i 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


V 


r  r  r 


BEN  B.  IINDSEY 


THE    PRICE   OF    PLACE 


The  Price 
of  Place 


BY 

SAMUEL  G.  BLYTHE 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 
BY  THE  CURTIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT, 
BY  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


PS 


TO 
AUNTIE 


'    .T 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  "PLAY  THE  GAME" .TV.  3 

II  THE  FUTURE  OPENS 17 

III  THE  FIRST:    "WHY  NOT?"    . 24 

IV  ANOTHER  RUBE  CONGRESSSMAN 33 

V  "TAKE  D.  C." 43 

VI  THE  FIRST  RECEPTION 53 

VII  NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR 66 

VIII  THE  OBLIGING  BANKER      ....     .     ...  79 

IX  SQUEEZED *     ....  92 

X  SOCIAL  ADVANCES 103 

XI  THE  BOLT 119 

XII  A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY 133 

XIII  EASY  MONEY 147 

XIV  "BE  Boss  YOURSELF" 162 

XV  THE  SPLIT  WITH  McMANus 173 

XVI  TREVELYAN'S  TROUSERS 182 

XVII  THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI 189 

XVIII  MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER 202 

XIX  HOOKED 214 

XX  THE  ATLAS  LAND  COMPANY 226 

XXI  THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS 234 

XXII  TOM  DARLINGTON  ENTERS 248 

XXIII  IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA 256 

XXIV  SENATOR  JAMES  MARSH  OR  CHAINS  OF  GOLD  .     .  267 
XXV  THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY 274 

XXVI  SANTA  CLAUS  ARRIVES 284 

XXVII  A  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE 295 

XXVIII  A  LEGAL  RETAINER 306 

XXIX  " ASK  ME  AGAIN" 318 

XXX  THE  WEDDING 328 

XXXI  A  VISION  OF  POWER 34° 

XXXII  SHACKLED  OR  THE  END  OF  THE  DREAM  .     .     .     .353 


THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 


The  Price  of 


PLAY   THE   GAME 


H 


does  it  look,  Charley?"  Bob  Me- 
Manus  asked,  leaning  over  the  table 
where  Charley  Caulkins  was  figuring 
the    percentages    on    the    election 
returns  coming  in  over  the  wire. 

"  All  right,"  Caulkins  answered  rather  gruffly, 
for  it  was  the  one  time  in  the  year  when  he  could 
be  gruff  with  the  boss.  On  all  other  occasions 
Caulkins  was  an  obsequious  assistant  cashier  in 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Morganville.  On 
election  nights  he  was  the  indispensable  man  who 
could  handle  the  returns  quickly  and  accurately, 
and  who  could  get  the  ratios  of  gain  or  loss  before 
the  others  had  the  figures  written  down.  Every 
county  seat  has  a  Caulkins. 

Bob  McManus  was  vitally  interested  in  this 
election.  He  was  the  Republican  boss  of  Green- 

3 


4  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

field  County.  His  influence  extended  out  into 
the  district  and  he  dominated  some  of  the  other 
counties  also.  He  was  a  contractor  and  real- 
estate  dealer,  who  couldn't  be  elected  to  an  office 
himself  because  of  a  general  distrust  of  his 
methods  and  morals;  but  no  candidate  could  be 
elected  without  the  support  of  McManus  and  his 
organisation.  McManus  would  have  given  half 
his  fortune  for  popular  recognition  in  the  way  of 
an  elective  office,  but  he  knew  what  would  happen 
to  him  if  he  went  before  the  people.  So  he  bossed 
the  organisation,  dictated  the  nominations,  and 
took  his  preferment  in  the  way  of  appointive 
offices  and  receiverships  and  other  patronage  dis 
tributed  by  the  bigger  bosses  of  the  state  and 
nation. 

"  Give  us  the  dope,"  he  insisted. 

"Well,"  said  Caulkins,  "listen  to  this:  'Lin 
coln  County,  with  twenty  precincts  missing,  gives 
Marsh  2245  and  Bolus  1762,  Same  precincts  two 
years  ago  gave  Hawkins  1936  and  Bolus  1834.' ' 

"  It's  a  cinch,"  commented  McManus,  "  for 
Grant  and  Sheridan  and  Colby  will  do  as  well." 

"  Don't  be  too  sure,"  cautioned  Caulkins. 
"  Two  years  ago  we  thought  it  was  a  pipe,  and 
Bolus  nosed  in." 

That  was  the  fact.  After  remaining  stead 
fastly  Republican,  so  far  as  its  representation  in 
Congress  went,  for  twenty  years,  the  fifteenth  dis 
trict  suddenly  became  Democratic.  Judge  William 
Godfrey  Bolus,  a  Democrat,  defeated  Colonel 
Charles  P.  Hawkins,  an  old  soldier  and  a  repre- 


"  PLAY  THE  GAME  "  5 

sentative  for  six  terms,  who  was  beginning 
to  think  there  was  something  in  the  Consti 
tution  that  gave  him  his  place.  It  was  one 
of  those  odd  political  shifts  that  come  now 
and  then,  and  are  mainly  the  result  of  a 
protest  against  local  conditions  or  of  a  wider 
revolt  against  party  domination  or  party  crimes. 
The  fifteenth  district  was  normally  Republican 
by  about  twelve  hundred  votes.  McManus,  in  a 
desperate  effort  to  regain  control,  had  selected 
and  nominated  James  Marsh,  a  Morganville  law 
yer,  to  make  the  fight  against  Bolus.  Marsh  was 
his  strongest  man. 

The  telegraph  instrument  clicked  ceaselessly. 
Tom  Johnson,  the  operator,  who  was  taking  the 
returns  over  the  loop  the  telegraph  company  had 
run  into  the  back  room  of  the  country  head 
quarters  —  McManus'  room  —  handed  Caulkins 
another  bulletin. 

"  It's  getting  where  it  was  four  years  ago,"  an 
nounced  Caulkins.  "  The  north  towns  are  doing 
well  and  Grant  and  Colby  are  holding  strong." 

"What's  the  percentage?"  asked  McManus. 

"  It's  a  gain  of  about  forty  to  the  precinct  for 
Marsh,"  Caulkins  replied.  "That'll  pull  him 
through." 

The  headquarters  were  on  the  second  floor  of 
the  Bixby  block  on  the  main  street  of  Morgan 
ville.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  county  com 
mittee,  a  few  of  the  candidates  and  some  of  the 
party  leaders  had  gathered  in  the  inner  office. 
The  big  room  outside  was  crowded  with  men  who 


'6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

were  politicians,  men  who  thought  they  were  poli 
ticians,  party  workers,  district  leaders,  precinct 
captains,  and  a  large  number  of  citizens  who  were 
interested  in  the  outcome  of  the  voting.  All  of 
them  were  smoking,  and  most  of  them  smoked 
bad  cigars.  The  air  was  thick  and  heavy,  the  men 
jostled  back  and  forth,  talking,  commenting, 
loudly  proclaiming  their  foreknowledge  of  what 
had  happened.  Each  man  exalted  his  political 
prescience,  and  listened  impatiently  to  claims  made 
by  others  of  expert  analyses  of  conditions  weeks  be 
fore  the  test.  Each  man  desired  to  get  credit  for 
wisdom,  to  boast  of  it,  and  they  all  chattered  and 
bragged  and  assumed  self-satisfied  poses  and 
nodded  sagely  when  the  bulletins  were  read. 
Not  a  man  was  in  the  place,  apparently,  who  had 
not  known  weeks  beforehand  what  the  result 
would  be. 

After  Caulkins  ha'd  finished  with  the  bulletins 
he  handed  them  to  Jack  Merrit,  the  secretary  of 
the  committee,  who  hastened  to  declaim  the  news 
to  the  crowd.  Every  time  Merrit  appeared  in 
the  doorway  between  the  inner  office  and  the  room 
outside  there  was  an  instant  hush.  He  rasped 
off  the  returns  in  a  harsh  voice  and  dodged  back, 
and  the  place  immediately  became  clamorous  with 
loud  comment  on  the  results  that  had  been  com 
municated.  There  were  many  amateur  figurers 
out  there,  but  they  were  not  expert  enough  to  have 
a  percentage  before  Merrit  appeared  again  and 
upset  all  their  calculations  with  his  fresh  batch  of 
information. 


"  PLAY  THE  GAME  "  7 

At  ten  o'clock  the  complete  returns  from  Grant 
and  Colby  counties  were  in.  McManus  sat  down 
and  wrote  a  telegram  to  the  state  chairman  saying 
Marsh  was  elected,  and  another  to  the  leading 
Republican  paper  in  the  city  fifty  miles  away  which 
said:  "Robert  H.  McManus,  the  Republican 
leader  of  the  fifteenth  district,  claims  the  election 
of  James  Marsh  to  Congress  by  eight  hundred 
plurality." 

"  It'll  be  a  thousand,"  said  Caulkins. 

"  Oh,  well,"  McManus  replied,  "  that  will 
make  it  all  the  better  for  another  dispatch  later 
on." 

Jack  Merrit  read  the  leader's  dispatch  to  the 
crowd  outside.  There  was  some  cheering. 
Most  of  those  in  the  big  room  began  to  move  to 
ward  the  door. 

"  Hold  on !  "  ordered  a  big  red-faced  man  who 
had  been  loud  in  his  praise  of  his  own  prognosti 
cations.  "What's  the  yank?  Where's  Marsh?  " 

"  That's  so,"  said  another  in  the  crowd. 
"Where  is  Marsh?" 

"Marsh!"  they  shouted.  "Come  on  out, 
Jim,  and  let's  see  you." 

"Marsh!" 

"  Hey,  Jim,  don't  be  so  bashful  I  " 

"Speech!" 

"  Speech !  " 

"  Come  on,  Jim;  you  ain't  an  honorable  yet  and 
can  afford  to  associate  with  us  for  a  while." 

McManus  turned  to  a  man  of  forty  who  had 
been  moving  about  the  inner  room  since  early  in 


8  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  evening,  chewing  a  cigar  which  he  lighted  and 
nervously  relighted  and  then  as  nervously  neg 
lected  to  keep  lighted;  a  man  of  good  stature, 
with  a  broad  spread  of  shoulder,  about  twenty 
pounds  too  much  weight  round  the  paunch,  which 
showed,  even  under  the  protecting  shadow  of  his 
deep  chest,  a  clean-shaven  face,  heavy  lips,  large 
eyes  set  far  apart  beneath  a  high  and  broad  fore 
head,  and  a  great  quantity  of  thick,  black  hair, 
that  was  brushed  straight  back  and  was  worn  long 
behind.  He  was  an  average  man,  as  men  go, 
with  no  marked  characteristic,  facial  or  otherwise, 
until  he  smiled.  Then  he  seemed  to  be  exceed 
ingly  good-natured  and  his  face  lighted  up  pleas 
antly. 

"  Go  ahead,  Jim,"  said  McManus.  "  Go  out 
there  and  make  a  talk  to  that  gang  or  they'll  never 
go  home." 

"  All  right,"  Marsh  assented,  and  he  threw 
away  his  soggy  cigar  and  went  into  the  other 
room. 

"  'Rah  for  Marsh !  "  a  few  shouted.  Others 
clapped  their  hands.  They  all  turned  toward  the 
doorway  where  Marsh  was  standing. 

"  My  friends,"  Marsh  began,  "  I  — " 

"  Git  up  on  a  chair!  "  the  red-faced  man  yelled. 

Marsh  obediently  clambered  on  a  chair.  He 
held  up  his  hand  for  quiet  after  the  manner  of 
the  stump  speaker,  and  began  again:  "  My 
friends  — " 

"  Good  boy,  Jim!  "  shouted  an  enthusiast.  "I 
knew  you'd  skin  'em." 


"  PLAY  THE  GAME  "  9 

"My  friends— " 

"  'Rah  for  Jim  Marsh,  next  congressman  from 
the  good  old  fifteenth !  "  came  from  the  rear  of 
the  room. 

"  Aw,  dry  up !  "  commanded  a  patriot  who  was 
eager  to  hear.  "  Lettim  talk." 

"  Spit  it  out,  Jiml" 

"Go  to  it!" 

"  My  friends,"  began  Marsh  again,  smiling 
down  at  the  crowded  room,  "  there  isn't  much  a 
man  can  say  on  an  occasion  like  this,  except  to 
express  his  thanks  to  those  who  stood  by  him  so 
loyally  in  the  fight  that  has  resulted  in  this  great 
victory  for  our  party.  And  I  do  thank  you,  thank 
you  all  from  my  heart,  for  your  support — " 

"  Good  boy,  Jim !" 

"  —  For  your  support,  not  only  at  the  polls, 
but  during  the  hard  campaign  we  had  to  make  to 
wrest  the  old  fifteenth  from  the  control  of  the 
enemy.  You  have  imposed  a  sacred  trust  in  me. 
You  are  sending  me  to  Washington  to  take  part  in 
the  deliberations  of  Congress,  and  I  want  to 
pledge  you  here  again,  as  I  have  done  on  the 
stump,  that  your  confidence  in  me  shall  not  be  mis 
placed,  and  that  I  shall  work  with  an  eye  and  a 
heart  and  a  hand  single  to  your  interests  and  to 
the  interests  of  the  Grand  Old  Party  which  we  all 
love  so  well." 

"That's  the  stuff,  Jim!  That's  the  pure 
quill!" 

"  Once  again  the  good  old  fifteenth  will  be  rep 
resented  in  the  Halls  of  Congress  by  a  Republican 


io  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

—  a  real  Republican  —  you  know  the  kind  of  a 
Republican  I  am,  boys?  " 

"  Bet  your  life  we  do,  Jim !     Whoop'er  up !  " 

"  And  here  and  now  I  say  to  you  that  never 
shall  I  be  ungrateful  for  the  honour  you  have  be 
stowed  on  me  and  never  shall  I  prove  unfaithful 
to  my  trust.  I  thank  you  again;  I  need  say  no 
more  at  this  time.  You  are  all  my  friends  and 
I  want  to  shake  hands  with  you  before  you  go, 
and  express  to  you  personally  the  deep  and  abid 
ing  gratitude  I  feel  to  you  all.  You  represent  the 
people  —  you  are  the  people  —  and  the  rights  of 
the  people  shall  ever  be  my  first  concern." 

"  How  about  Bob  McManus?  "  shouted  a  thin- 
whiskered  man  who  viewed  the  proceedings  with 
evident  disapproval. 

"  The  Honorable  Robert  H.  McManus  is  my 
friend,  and  I  would  be  an  ingrate  indeed  if  I  did 
not  acknowledge  that  here  and  my  indebtedness 
to  him  and  to  his  great  organisation  for  their  part 
in  this  victory.  I  feel  that  I  am  merely  the  instru 
ment  of  the  expressed  will  of  the  people  — " 

"And  Bob  McManus!"  interjected  the  thin- 
whiskered  man. 

"  Aw,  cut  it  out !  "  cautioned  the  red-faced 
patriot. 

"  —  Merely  an  instrument  for  the  expression 
of  the  will  of  the  people  in  governmental  affairs, 
but  for  all  that  I  allow  no  man  to  question  my 
fealty  of  Bob  McManus,  who  labored  so  earnestly 
and  so  unselfishly  in  my  behalf.  Again  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart  I  thank  you." 


"PLAY  THE  GAME"  n 

McManus  had  entered  the  room.  After 
Marsh  had  finished  he  moved  up  to  where  Marsh 
was  standing  and  whispered:  "Slough  'em  off 
as  quick  as  you  can.  I  want  to  have  a  talk  with 
you  before  you  go  home." 

Marsh  shook  hands  rapidly  and  received  con 
gratulations  modestly.  After  the  last  man  had 
filed  past  him  he  returned  to  the  inner  room.  The 
floor  was  littered  with  paper  containing  the  cal 
culations  of  Caulkins  and  with  crumpled  bulletins. 
The  telegraph  instrument  was  clicking  spasmodic 
ally.  The  air  was  murky  with  ill-smelling  smoke. 
Caulkins  and  a  few  others  lingered,  talking  it 
over  with  that  curious  insistence  of  repetition  of 
established  fact  that  marks  such  conversations, 
saying  the  same  things  again  and  again  and  assur 
ing  one  another  they  had  known  all  along  that  it 
would  be  a  walk-over. 

"  Boys,"  said  McManus,  "  Jim  and  I  want  to 
have  a  talk.  Good-night." 

Everybody  left  but  Caulkins.  "  Say,  Bob,"  he 
said,  "  don't  forget  about  making  our  bank  a 
national  depository.  Old  Bolus  got  the  treasurer 
to  take  it  away  from  us  when  he  went  in." 

"  I  won't,"  McManus  replied.  "  Good-night, 
Charley;  much  obliged." 

Caulkins  fiddled  round,  loath  to  go.  It  was 
his  one  important  night  in  the  year. 

"  Good-night,  Charley,"  said  McManus  again 
with  abrupt  finality. 

"  Good-night,    Bob ;   good-night,    Jim.     Don't 


12  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

forget  about  that  depository  business.  Good 
night."  And  he  left  slowly. 

"  Sit  down,"  ordered  McManus. 

Marsh  sat  down  in  the  chair  Caulkins  had  occu 
pied  and  twisted  some  sheets  of  yellow  flimsy  be 
tween  his  fingers. 

"  Jim,"  said  McManus,  "  you  know  who  elected 
you,  don't  you?  " 

"  You  did." 

"  Sure !  I  was  afraid  you  might  forget  it. 
And  you  know  who  can  beat  you  next  time  if  you 
don't  play  ball,  don't  you?" 

"  I  suppose  you  can." 

"No  supposing  about  it;  I  can  —  and  I  will, 
too,  if  it  seems  necessary.  Now  I  want  to  get 
down  to  brass  tacks  to  you." 

"  Go  ahead." 

"  First,  I'll  tell  you  a  few  things  about  yourself. 
You  are  forty-one  years  old,  right  in  your  prime, 
and  you've  wanted  to  go  to  Congress  for  the  last 
six  or  seven  years.  I've  been  watching  you,  and 
I  picked  you  this  time  because  I  figured  that  you 
and  I  could  form  a  partnership  and  hold  things 
in  this  district  for  a  good  long  time.  You've  got 
things  I  need  and  I've  got  a  whole  heap  you  need, 
and  we  can  do  business  together  or  not  as  you 
choose." 

"  I'll  do  anything  I  can,  Bob." 

"  All  right.  Now,  then,  the  reason  I  picked 
you  to  go  to  Congress  is  because  you  are  a  good 
lawyer,  one  of  the  strongest  in  the  district,  and  be 
cause  you  are  far-and-away  the  best  speaker  in  this 


"  PLAY  THE  GAME  "  13 

part  of  the  state.  With  a  few  years  in  Congress 
and  the  experience  and  training  you  get  there,  I 
can  make  you  a  big  man,  and  perhaps  get  you  the 
governorship  or  send  you  to  the  United  States 
Senate." 

"  Do  you  think  so,  Bob?  "  asked  Marsh,  lean 
ing  forward  and  putting  his  hand  on  McManus' 
knee. 

"Sure!  Besides,  your  wife  is  ambitious,  and 
you've  got  a  daughter  that'll  be  a  crackerjack,  and 
maybe  she's  ambitious  too.  All  you  have  to  do, 
Jim,  is  to  remember  where  your  obligation  lies, 
and  not  try  to  doublecross  me  or  your  friends  here, 
or  get  the  swelled  head  and  think  you're  a  bigger 
man  politically  than  I  am,  and  you'll  be  all  right." 

"  What  do  you  want  me  to  do?  " 

McManus  got  up  and  walked  over  to  the  win 
dow.  He  looked  out  for  a  moment,  lighted  a 
cigar  carefully,  took  a  puff  or  two  and  then  walked 
back  to  where  Marsh  was  sitting  on  the  edge  of 
his  chair. 

"What  do  I  want  you  to  do?  Nothing  on 
God's  green  earth  but  to  play  the  game.  There 
are  a  lot  of  busy-izzy  reformers  and  disturbers  in 
this  district,  and  they  will  try  to  get  you.  They 
will  appeal  to  your  so-called  patriotism  and  your 
love  of  country  and  your  deep  affection  for  the 
common  people;  but  forget  it  —  forget  it  all. 
Politics  isn't  the  business  of  the  people.  It's  a 
business  we  pursue  for  the  people  —  and  our 
selves.  It's  the  most  selfish,  the  most  heartless, 
the  most  bogus  business  on  the  footstool,  but  it 


14  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

happens  to  be  the  kind  of  business  I  enjoy,  and  you 
can  add  to  my  enjoyment  of  it  by  doing  what 
I  want  you  to,  and  add  to  your  own  enjoyment 
too." 

"  But  the  better  element  were  all  for  me,  Bob." 

"  Forget  the  better  element !  What  have  we 
to  do  with  them  now  that  we  have  their  votes? 
Forget  reformers  who  want  you  and  me  to  do 
what  they  want  us  to  do  instead  of  doing  what 
the  situation  demands.  A  reformer  is  nothing 
but  a  man  who  can't  get  what  he  wants  regularly 
and  tries  to  get  it  irregularly,  or  in  a  new  way. 
A  reformer  is  a  man  who  has  a  grievance  and 
wants  to  plaster  everybody  else  with  that  griev 
ance.  Or  he  is  one  of  those  exalted  idiots  who 
thinks  because  he  doesn't  approve  of  a  man,  or  a 
method,  or  a  manner,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
body  else  to  disapprove  of  it.  These  reformers 
are  the  greatest  egotists  in  the  world.  They 
won't  argue.  They  won't  reason.  They  just 
condemn  and  command." 

"  But  they  cast  a  lot  of  votes." 

"  Of  course  they  do,  and  we  have  to  cater  to 
them.  I'm  not  asking  you  to  do  anything  out  in 
the  open  they  object  to,  for  I've  made  it  a  rule 
in  politics  to  favour,  in  public,  every  movement 
that  is  advocated  by  church  people  or  the  women." 

He  laughed.  "  What  I  have  done  in  private 
is  another  matter." 

"  But,"  asked  Marsh,  "  what  shall  you  want?  " 

"  Nothing,  Jim,"  said  McManus,  putting  his 
hand  on  Marsh's  shoulder,  "  nothing  at  all  but 


"PLAY  THE  GAME"  15 

one  thing.     All  I  ask  of  you  is  to  play  the  game." 

"  That's  easy  enough." 

"  It  won't  be  so  easy  as  you  think,  but  if  you've 
got  the  nerve  and  the  savvy  —  and  I  think  you 
have  —  to  play  it  the  way  it  ought  to  be  played, 
you  and  I  can  get  to  be  the  big  political  powers  in 
this  state.  I  tell  you  I  can  make  you  governor 
or  senator  or  perhaps  president.  But  that  isn't 
all." 

"  It  seems  a  good  deal."  Marsh's  eyes  burned 
with  excitement. 

"  It  isn't  all  by  a  heap.  The  most  important 
thing  is  this,  Jim  —  we  can  both  make  our  for 
tunes." 

"  Hold  on,  Bob !  "  broke  in  Marsh.  '  You 
can't  make  a  crook  out  of  me  or  a  grafter." 

"  Who  the  hell  wants  you  to  be  a  crook  or  a 
grafter?"  snarled  McManus.  "If  you  go  to 
be  a  crook  or  a  grafter  you  couldn't  get  anywhere 
—  provided  it  was  found  out  or  suspected  even. 
Now  listen  to  me:  You  are  ambitious?" 

"  Yes." 

"  You  think  you  have  it  in  you  to  be  a  big  man 
in  Congress." 

"  I  do." 

"  You'd  rather  be  a  great  senator  and  have 
your  wife  succeed  socially  than  anything  else?  " 

11  Yes." 

"  Well,  then,  I  know  you  have  the  right  stuff 
in  you  and  all  I  ask  of  you  is  to  play  the  game." 

u  But,"  asked  Marsh  nervously,  "  how  shall  I 
know  what  the  game  is  and  how  to  play  it?  " 


1 6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Oh,"  replied  McManus,  as  if  it  were  all 
settled,  "  as  for  that  you'll  learn  a  good  deal  your 
self,  and  what  you  don't  learn  yourself  I'll  teach 
you." 


II 

THE   FUTURE   OPENS 

MARSH  walked  home  slowly,  turning 
over  in  his  mind  what  McManus 
had  said  to  him.  He  was  uneasy, 
for  he  didn't  know  how  far  Mc 
Manus  would  ask  him  to  go.  McManus  had 
financial  and  political  connections  in  the  East,  was 
frequently  called  to  Washington  for  consultation 
with  the  party  leaders  there,  was  a  member  of 
the  Republican  National  Committee  and  potent  in 
state  affairs.  Furthermore  McManus,  operating 
as  the  friend  of  the  people  and  the  unselfish  leader 
of  the  party,  looked  on  it  all  as  a  game  whereby 
the  ends  always  justified  the  means.  He  was 
interested  only  in  the  results  and  the  results  of  the 
results,  which,  generally,  and  as  often  as  he  could 
make  them  so,  were  for  the  benefit  of  McManus 
and  his  lieutenants.  He  was  a  stern  boss,  but  had 
the  reputation  of  dividing  equitably,  and  he  stood 
by  his  friends.  Marsh  understood  perfectly  that 
McManus'  only  theory  of  politics  was  that  poli 
tics  is  necessary  to  secure  power  and  that  power  is 
useful  in  helping  along  personal  plans. 

At  the  same  time  Marsh  knew  it  would  be  to 
the  advantage  of  his  future  to  remain  on  friendly 


iff  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

terms  with  McManus,  for  without  McManus' 
support  Marsh  could  not  hope  to  remain  in  Con 
gress.  Marsh  took  a  backward  look  at  his  own 
career.  He  was  forty-one  years  old,  married  and 
had  a  daughter  of  fifteen.  He  was  a  practising 
lawyer,  who  made  about  six  thousand  dollars  a 
year  and  had  never  had  an  office  except  a  street- 
railway  receivership,  given  to  him  by  a  political 
judge,  that  netted  him  five  thousand  dollars,  of 
which  he  was  compelled  to  give  a  quarter  to  the 
McManus  organisation.  He  was  born  in  a 
small  village  about  twenty  miles  from  Morgan- 
ville,  worked  hard,  came  to  Morganville  when  he 
was  eighteen  and  studied  law.  He  passed  his 
examinations  with  credit  and  took  a  clerkship 
in  a  leading  firm  at  that,  the  county  seat. 
After  a  few  years  he  had  opened  an  office  of 
his  own  and  had  done  well,  as  the  law  business 
went  in  that  territory.  All  his  life  he  had  been  a 
public  speaker  and  interested  and  active  in  poli 
tics.  He  had  an  elocutionary  gift.  When  he 
was  a  small  boy  he  declaimed  Spartacus  to  the 
Gladiators  and  similar  robust  orations  in  the  dis 
trict  school.  He  worked  up  through  the  rural 
debating  societies  and  was  a  leader  in  the  moot 
trials  organised  by  the  clerks  in  his  student  days. 
As  soon  as  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  he  began 
campaign  speaking  in  a  small  way.  He  had  de 
veloped,  through  his  work  in  the  courtroom  and 
on  the  stump,  into  an  effective  public  speaker, 
with  a  facility  for  flowery  and  impassioned  per 
orations  and  a  trick  of  alliteration  that  made  his 


THE  FUTURE  UFENS  19 

speeches  sound  more  impressive  than  they  really 
were.  His  voice  was  musical  and  strong  and  his 
delivery  graceful  and  at  times  dramatic. 

He  was  a  good  student,  kept  in  close  and  in 
telligent  touch  with  public  affairs.  Once  or  twice 
when  the  occasion  seemed  opportune,  he  had 
broken  away  from  the  McManus  organisation  and 
had  sided  with  the  independents.  There  always 
was  a  faction  in  the  district  fighting  McManus. 
This  exhibition  of  independence  had  puzzled  Mc 
Manus,  but  had  not  deterred  him  from  nominating 
Marsh  when  he  wanted  a  man  to  win.  McManus 
needed  Marsh,  not  only  to  give  respectability 
to  his  organisation,  but  because  Marsh  was 
strong  and  effective  and  capable  of  large  develop 
ment.  Marsh  had  not  been,  to  a  great  extent, 
cognisant  of  the  machine  methods  of  McManus, 
for  McManus  had  used  him  for  outside  work  and 
not  in  the  inner  councils.  Marsh  thoroughly  be 
lieved  that  his  triumph  at  the  polls  was  due  to  his 
own  good  standing  in  the  community  and  to  his 
strong  political  beliefs,  which,  though  generally 
in  accord  with  those  of  the  party,  still  were  pro 
gressive  enough  to  suit  the  independents  in  a  great 
measure. 

He  liked  the  law,  but  his  great  love  was  for 
politics  and  his  great  passion  for  power  and  place. 
All  his  life  he  had  had  but  one  idea,  and  that  was 
to  become  an  important  man  in  the  country.  He 
thought  himself  a  great  orator  —  and  he  was  a 
very  good  one  and  might  reasonably  hope  to 
develop  in  time  to  be  a  great  one  —  and  he  was 


20  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

greedy  for  applause.  He  had  visions  of  himself 
in  Congress  swaying  his  colleagues  with  the  force 
and  eloquence  of  his  words,  and  he  saw  opening 
before  him  vistas,  not  only  of  political  triumphs 
but  of  social  triumphs  as  well.  He  considered 
the  man  who  held  a  big  office  as  having  proved 
his  superiority  over  his  neighbours;  and  though  he 
was  outwardly  modest  and  not  looking  for  noto 
riety,  he  sought  the  society  of  men  he  thought 
could  help  him,  and  saw  to  it  that  his  name  was 
in  the  newspapers  as  often  as  it  could  be  put  there 
in  a  complimentary  manner.  He  had  worked 
harder  to  make  himself  one  of  the  big  men  of 
Morganville  than  he  had  to  make  money,  and  he 
had  lived  up  to  and  a  little  beyond  his  income. 
Ordinarily  at  the  end  of  the  year  there  were  bills 
amounting  to  a  thousand  dollars  or  so  unpaid,  and 
no  way  to  provide  for  them  except  by  future  earn 
ings. 

Marsh  was  somewhat  of  a  sentimentalist,  and 
by  nature  not  so  aggressive  as  he  seemed.  How 
ever,  he  had  carefully  built  up  a  reputation  for 
keen,  businesslike  decision,  which  he  relieved  at 
times  by  some  act  of  kindness  and  consideration 
that  won  him  approval.  He  was  liked  by  his 
colleagues  at  the  bar  and  popular  throughout  his 
district  as  a  good  mixer.  He  had  a  facility  for 
remembering  names  and  faces  and  incidents,  and 
he  cultivated  that  assiduously.  He  also  had  a 
hearty  sincerity  of  manner,  never  effusive,  but 
genuine  in  all  its  manifestations.  To  all  outside 
views  he  seemed  a  serious,  studious,  earnest, 


THE  FUTURE  OPENS  21 

honest  man,  with  the  good  of  the  people  at 
heart  and  fervent  in  his  support  of  his  party. 
He  was  enough  of  a  politician  to  go  a  con 
siderable  distance  in  making  his  own  ideas 
conform  with  the  tenets  of  his  party.  He 
said  to  himself  that  he  could  do  more  to  bring 
about  good  politics  by  being  in  powerful  place 
on  the  inside  instead  of  fighting  from  the  out 
side.  He  was  firmly  determined  to  urge  and  se 
cure  reforms,  especially  in  the  extension  of 
popular  government,  a  question  he  had  studied 
much  but  about  which  he  had  talked  little. 
He  had  no  idea,  either  real  or  vague,  of  doing 
anything  else  in  Congress  than  giving  his  best  serv 
ice  to  his  people  and  his  country,  but  back  of  it 
all  was  an  intense  ambition,  a  craving  for  high 
position,  and  he  was  certain  that  if  he  could 
attain  the  place  he  desired  he  then  could  do 
many  things  that  were  beyond  him  as  a  private 
citizen. 

Marsh  had  telephoned  the  result  to  his  wife 
as  soon  as  he  was  certain  he  was  elected,  and  she 
was  waiting  for  him. 

"  Well,  Molly,"  he  shouted  exultantly  as  he 
came  into  the  living-room  where  she  was  sitting, 
"  we're  going  to  Congress." 

She  rose  to  meet  him  and  he  took  her  in  his 
arms  and  kissed  her.  She  said  nothing. 

'  You  don't  seem  very  much  impressed  with  the 
news,"  he  complained. 

"Of  course  I  am,  Jim.  Don't  be  silly!  But 
I  was  planning  my  dresses." 


22 

"Your  dresses!  Is  that  the  first  thing  you 
think  about?  " 

"  Jim,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh,  withdrawing  herself 
from  his  arms,  "  I  am  now  a  Congressman's  wife, 
and  I  shall  be  expected  to  take  my  proper  place  in 
society  in  Washington.  Of  course  I  must  think 
of  my  dresses  and  the  dresses  for  Dorothy,  but 
I'm  glad  —  I'm  glad  —  it  means  so  much  to  all 
of  us." 

Mrs  Marsh  was  slender,  alert  and  thirty-seven. 
She  had  an  attractive  face,  knew  how  to  keep  her 
complexion  fresh,  had  good  taste  in  gowns  and 
much  tact  and  ability  as  a  hostess.  She  was  not 
a  beauty  and  never  had  been,  but  she  was  graceful, 
vivacious,  healthy,  good-tempered,  active,  and 
had  won  her  way  as  the  social  leader  of  her  set 
by  hard  and  persistent  campaigning  and  by  the 
exercise  of  great  strategy  and  diplomacy.  She 
had  a  quick  mind,  was  just  a  little  ahead  of  her 
friends  in  adopting  the  new  fashions,  but  had 
excellent  discernment  and  never  took  up  the  ex 
treme  modes.  She  was  adaptable  and  eager  to 
learn,  and  studied  the  social  columns  of  the  out- 
of-town  newspapers  and  the  fashion  books  from 
New  York  and  elsewhere  with  satisfactory  results. 
She  dabbled  discreetly  in  club  doings,  but  never 
with  any  but  the  clubs  that  were  most  fashionable, 
and  she  kept  her  visiting  list  carefully  pruned, 
and  considered  it  a  triumph  when  she  added 
to  that  list  the  name  of  a  lady  who  had  seemed  a 
little  above  her  in  position.  She  was  the  daugh 
ter  of  a  local  merchant,  and  had  married  Marsh 


THE  FUTURE  OPENS  23 

when  she  was  nineteen,  a  year  after  she  had  com 
pleted  her  course  in  the  Morganville  high  school. 

"  Molly,"  said  Marsh,  "  this  dress  business  is 
an  angle  that  hadn't  appealed  to  me  before. 
How  much  will  they  cost?  " 

"  Why,  Jim,"  she  replied,  "  I  don't  know. 
How  can  I  tell?  I  suppose  five  hundred  dollars 
for  myself  and  Dorothy." 

"  Five  hundred  dollars !  " 

"  Certainly !  You  want  your  wife  to  be  prop 
erly  dressed,  don't  you?  There  is  so  much  to 
get,  for  none  of  the  gowns  I  have  been  wearing 
here  will  do.  I  must  have  everything  new. 
You  know,  Jim,"  she  continued  earnestly,  "  it 
wouldn't  do  to  go  to  one  of  those  big  houses  in 
Washington  with  a  gown  on  that  had  seen  serv 
ice  here  in  poky  Morganville." 

"  I  suppose  not." 

"  You  aren't  very  enthusiastic  about  it." 

"  Maybe  not;  but  this  campaign  cost  me  about 
all  I  had  in  cash  and  I  went  into  debt  some. 
They  taxed  me  pretty  heavily  and  I  had  to  pay  my 
own  expenses.  Why,  the  money  McManus  got 
from  the  congressional  campaign  committee  he 
used  in  his  own  way,  and  I'm  about  strapped,  to 
tell  the  truth." 

"  Oh,  well,  we  don't  go  to  Washington  until 
December  of  next  year,  and  you  can  make  a  lot 
before  that  time,  can't  you,  Jim?  " 

"  I'll  have  to,"  he  replied  grimly. 


Ill 

THE    FIRST:    "WHY   NOT?" 

LEADER  McMANUS  took  Marsh  to 
Washington  with  him  for  a  few  days 
during  the  session  of  the  Congress 
which  preceded  the  body  to  which 
Marsh  had  been  elected.  Corrected  returns 
showed  that  Marsh  had  carried  his  district  by 
some  thirteen  hundred,  "  redeemed "  it,  as  the 
party  papers  all  said,  and  he  had  made  one  or 
two  speeches  at  ratification  meetings  that  had 
been  warmly  commended.  McManus  had  said 
little  and  had  kept  away  from  Marsh,  who  was 
working  hard  at  his  law  practice  and  reading  up 
on  governmental  affairs,  in  order  to  be  able  to 
plunge  into  his  new  work.  He  was  disturbed 
because  he  would  have  no  actual  opportunity, 
beyond  being  representative-elect,  to  demon 
strate  his  capacity  as  a  statesman,  as  the  Congress 
to  which  he  was  elected  would  not  go  into  session 
for  a  year;  but  he  finally  concluded  that  might 
not  be  so  much  of  a  detriment  as  it  seemed, 
for  the  elapsed  time  would  give  him  a  chance 
to  get  his  law  business  into  shape  and  secure  some 
money  to  help  out  on  expenses  in  Washington. 

24 


THE  FIRST:  "WHY  NOT?"         25 

It  was  the  second  time  Marsh  had  been  in 
Washington.  He  had  attended  the  inaugura 
tion  of  President  Harrison,  in  1889,  coming  on 
an  excursion,  and  had  galloped  through  the  big 
buildings  and  had  called  on  his  representative; 
but  he  remembered  very  little  except  the  crowds 
and  the  rain,  and  he  was  vastly  interested  in  all 
he  saw.  They  went  to  the  largest  hotel,  where 
McManus  took  a  parlour  and  two  bedrooms,  a 
finer  suite  than  Marsh  ever  had  occupied  in  a 
hotel  or  elsewhere,  and  began  a  round  of  visits. 
McManus  spent  money  freely.  He  hired  cabs, 
had  elaborate  dinners,  bought  expensive  wines 
and  cigars  and  would  not  let  Marsh  pay  for  any 
thing. 

"  It's  on  me,"  he  said,  "  all  of  it.  I  want  to 
get  you  started  right  down  here,  and  there's  no 
sense  in  your  blowing  yourself.  It's  on  me." 

Marsh  resented  this  air  of  proprietorship 
shown  by  McManus,  and  he  resented  it  still  more 
when  he  was  introduced  by  McManus  as  "  my 
congressman,"  but  he  said  nothing.  He  re 
solved  at  the  earliest  feasible  moment  to 
show  McManus  he  was  his  own  congressman,  but 
he  went  with  McManus  wherever  McManus  sug 
gested.  Marsh  was  surprised  to  see  the  easy 
terms  McManus  was  on  with  men  whose  names 
figured  in  the  newspapers  every  day  as  the  greatest 
statesmen  of  the  country.  He  heard  McManus 
call  them  "  Joe  "  and  "  John  "  and  all  the  rest,  and 
saw  them  salute  McManus  as  "Bob,  old  boy!  " 
and  at  once  become  confidential  with  him.  He 


26 

waited  impatiently  in  outside  offices  while  Me- 
Manus  talked  with  famous  senators  and  notable 
representatives,  and  when  they  went  to  the  White 
House  and  he  was  presented  to  the  president,  he 
was  astonished  to  find  the  president  not  only 
called  McManus  "  Bob,"  but  put  his  arm  about 
his  shoulder  and  led  him  away  to  a  corner  of  the 
room  for  a  personal  and  intimate  talk. 

Marsh's  vanity  was  hurt.  He  considered  him 
self  a  man  of  considerable  dignity  and  conse 
quence,  and  he  was  a  representative-elect,  a  man 
on  whom  they  must  all  figure  when  the  next  Con 
gress  convened.  To  his  disgust  he  was  received 
in  the  most  casual  manner  by  the  leaders  of  his 
party  in  both  Senate  and  House.  They  were 
glad  to  meet  him,  inquired  carefully  as  to  his 
name,  said  they  would  be  pleased  to  help  him 
when  he  came  to  take  up  his  duties,  and  then 
turned  to  other  things.  A  few  of  them  talked  to 
him  a  little  about  politics  in  his  state,  but  that  was 
about  all.  Every  one  seemed  to  have  confidences 
to  exchange  with  McManus  and  Marsh  obtained 
a  new  view  of  the  power  of  that  leader  in  na 
tional  affairs.  McManus  took  him  to  the  man 
who  would  be  speaker  of  the  new  House  and 
recommended  Marsh  for  good  committee  places. 

"  I'll  do  the  best  I  can,"  said  that  personage, 
"  but  the  pressure  is  tremendous.  All  the  new 
men  want  to  go  on  Ways  and  Means  or  Appro 
priations,  you  understand,  right  off  the  bat." 

"  I  know  all  about  that,"  McManus  replied, 


THE  FIRST:  "WHY  NOT?"        27 

"  but  you  take  care  of  Marsh  here.  He's  all 
right,  and  he'll  stand  without  hitching." 

Marsh  resented  that,  too,  but  said  nothing. 
In  his  mind  he  determined  not  only  to  show  the 
prospective  speaker  that  he  might  do  worse  than 
put  him  in  Ways  and  Means  or  Appropriations, 
but  also  to  prove  to  McManus  there  was  no  mort 
gage  on  his  freedom  in  the  possession  of  that 
autocratic  boss. 

It  was  all  an  enchanted  land  to  Marsh.  By 
virtue  of  his  forthcoming  position  he  was  admit 
ted  to  places  beyond  the  ordinary  visitor.  He 
saw  at  closer  range  the  men  he  had  been  reading 
about  all  his  life.  He  studied  the  operations  of 
both  Senate  and  House,  listened  to  the  debates 
and  speeches  and  said  to  himself  that  he  could  do 
better  than  any  of  them,  went  to  a  dinner  party  or 
two  given  at  the  hotel  by  McManus,  and  was 
seized  with  a  sense  of  his  own  importance.  In  a 
short  time  he  was  to  be  a  member  of  this  great 
law-making  body.  He  was  to  be  a  statesman. 
He  was  to  have  his  place  there  on  the  floor,  to 
take  part  in  the  deliberations,  to  help  frame  the 
laws,  to  speak  to  an  audience  that  would  be  nation 
wide,  and  he  saw  again  those  vistas  of  increasing 
power  and  higher  place.  Indeed,  one  night  when 
he  was  out  alone  for  a  walk,  he  went  up  on  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue  past  the  treasury,  and  stood  for 
a  long  time  looking  at  the  White  House.  Then 
he  walked  slowly  round  the  ellipse  and  gazed  at 
the  big  portico,  and  staring  over  the  iron  fence  he 


28  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

determined  that  even  so  tremendous  a  goal  as  the 
White  House  was  not  beyond  him. 

"Why  not?"  he   said.     "Why  not?" 

As  he  stood  there  three  men  came  along,  walk 
ing  slowly  and  talking  earnestly.  He  recognised 
two  of  them.  They  were  senators,  he  was  sure 
of  that,  and  well-known  senators,  too.  He  had 
often  seen  their  pictures  in  the  papers  and  he  had 
observed  them  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  chamber. 

They  stopped  near  him. 

"  Damn  him !  If  he  thinks  he  can  coerce  me 
into  doing  what  he  wants  by  threatening  to  with 
hold  my  patronage,  let  him  go  ahead,"  one  of  them 
exclaimed.  "  I'm  still  a  senator,  and  I'll  show  him 
that  I'm  not  to  be  intimidated  by  any  president  of 
the  United  States." 

"  Cheer  up,  Bill!  "  said  another  of  the  party. 
"  He's  only  bluffing  and  so  are  you.  When  the 
time  comes  you'll  get  together  in  five  minutes." 

"  I'm  not  bluffing!  "  shouted  the  angry  senator. 
"  I'll  show  him." 

The  others  laughed  and  pulled  the  fist-shaker1 
along  with  them,  patting  him  on  the  back  and  tell 
ing  him  it  was  a  waste  of  energy  to  make  those 
demonstrations  before  them. 

Marsh  wondered  what  it  was  all  about.  He 
had  heard  nothing  of  any  quarrel  between  a  sen 
ator  and  the  president.  When  he  returned  to 
the  hotel  he  asked  McManus  about  it. 

"Oh,"  said  McManus,  "it's  nothing.  The 
president  wants  a  thing  done  that  is  pretty  hard 
to  do,  and  some  of  the  senators  have  kicked  about 


THE  FIRST:  "WHY  NOT?"         29 

it.  He  is  insistent  and  is  threatening  to  withhold 
patronage  unless  he  gets  his  way.  Those  old 
boys  over  there  in  the  Senate  are  as  greedy  as  any 
politician  for  their  share  of  the  pie,  and  they're 
sore.  But  they  will  come  round.  They  always 
do.  By  the  way,  I  fixed  it  for  you  to-day  so  you 
can  have  a  couple  of  assistant  door-keepers  and 
a  place  on  the  temporary  roll  for  our  fellows." 

"  I'll  look  over  the  ground,"  said  Marsh,  "  and 
pick  out  some  good  men." 

"  Needn't  bother,"  McManus  replied.  "  I've 
picked  them  out  for  you." 

This  made  Marsh's  gorge  rise.  He  was  on 
the  point  of  protesting,  but  he  thought  it  better  to 
wait  until  he  had  a  chance  to  show  McManus  by 
deeds  instead  of  trying  to  influence  him  by  words. 
McManus  apparently  considered  the  matter  set 
tled  and  did  not  refer  to  it  again. 

"  Bob,"  said  Marsh,  as  they  were  on  the  train 
going  home,  "  you  seem  to  know  most  of  the  big 
men  back  in  Washington." 

"Yes." 

"  And  to  have  a  lot  of  influence  with  them." 

"  I  do." 

McManus  turned  and  looked  Marsh  in  the 
eye:  "Why  not?"  he  asked.  "Why  not, 
when  I've  been  playing  the  game  on  the  level  with 
most  of  them  for  thirty  years?  I  know  them  and 
they  know  me." 

"  But  you  never  have  taken  office." 

"  Marsh,"  said  McManus,  leaning  forward, 
"  there  is  one  good  rule  you  always  should  follow 


30  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

—never  try  to  take  anything  you  can't  get.  I 
couldn't  be  elected  pound-master,  and  you  know 
it;  but  I  can  elect  other  people,  and  you  know  that 
too.  Besides,  I'd  much  rather  own  an  office 
holder  than  have  an  office  own  me." 

There  was  a  pause  of  ten  minutes.  McManus 
smoked  his  cigar  and  looked  out  of  the  window. 
Marsh  smoked  his  cigar  and  looked  at  the  toes  of 
his  shoes. 

"  Bob,"  asked  Marsh  finally,  "  do  you  claim  to 
own  me?  " 

"  I  make  no  claims  of  any  kind,"  McManus 
replied,  with  considerable  emphasis.  "  I  took 
you  to  Washington  to  show  you  what  I  can  do  for 
you  if  you  continue  right.  It's  all  up  to  you.  If 
you  want  my  support  you  can  have  it.  If  you 
don't  want  it  that's  for  you  to  decide.  But  let  me 
say  this  —  you  can't  get  anywhere  without  me  and 
you  can  go  a  hell  of  a  ways  with  me.  All  you've 
got  to  do  is  to  play  the  game." 

"  Do  you  mean  you  want  me  to  be  dishonest?  " 

"Dishonest!"  shouted  McManus.  "No,  I 
don't  want  you  to  be  dishonest!  What  good 
would  you  be  to  me  or  anybody  else  if  you  were 
dishonest  in  the  sense  you  use  the  word?  I'm 
not  putting  crooks  into  office;  I'm  trying  to  keep 
them  out.  You've  been  listening  to  a  lot  of  guff 
about  politics  and  politicians  put  out  by  a  bunch 
of  reformers  and  uplifters  who  wouldn't  know  an 
Australian  ballot  if  they  saw  one  coming  down 
the  street  and  wouldn't  know  whether  they  ought 
to  back  in  or  roll  into  a  polling  place,  who  never 


THE  FIRST:  "WHY  NOT?"        31 

took  part  in  a  ward  caucus,  and  who  say  all  poli 
tics  is  dishonest  because  they  can't  get  out  of  poli 
tics  what  they  want  themselves. 

"  No,  I  don't  want  you  to  be  dishonest.  I'll 
be  the  first  to  expose  you  if  you  are.  What  I  do 
want  is  for  you  to  look  at  this  game  with  the  right 
slant.  I  don't  like  that  word  graft  a  little  bit, 
but  it's  the  only  one  I  can  use  to  explain  what  I 
do  mean.  Now  listen,  Marsh,  there  are  two 
kinds  of  graft — plain  graft  and  honest  graft. 
Perquisites  is  better,  but  that  doesn't  exactly  fit. 
What  I  mean  is  that  if  you  play  the  game,  go  to 
bat  with  the  boys  who  are  in  control  and  prove 
yourself  regular  and  dependable,  you  will  get  your 
share  of  it  and,  incidentally,  so  will  I.  There 
are  a  whole  heap  of  things  coming  off  every  ses 
sion  of  Congress  that  are  straight  as  a  string,  and 
you  can  get  in  on  them  if  you  will.  It  doesn't 
mean  any  betrayal  of  your  constituents,  or  any 
sacrifice  of  your  honor,  or  anything  at  all  but  just 
plain,  hard,  common  sense,  and  not  such  a  hell  of 
a  lot  of  that.  If  you  play  ball  with  the  boys  the 
boys  will  play  ball  with  you.  Our  Congress  is 
the  greatest  tit-for-tat  institution  in  the  known 
world.  The  organisation  runs  the  game,  and  if 
you  are  with  the  organisation  you  are  in  the  game 
and  get  your  share.  If  you  try  to  buck  the  or 
ganisation  you  lose  out  three  ways  —  at  home, 
in  Congress  and  with  me.  You  won't  be  asked 
to  do  anything  you  can't  do  consistently  or  con 
scientiously,  unless  your  conscience  is  tenderer 
than  I  think  it  is.  The  labourer  is  always  worthy 


32  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

of  his  hire.  Things  will  come  your  way  if  you 
help  put  things  in  the  way  of  the  other  fellows. 
It's  a  give-and-take  proposition  anyway  you  look 
at  it,  and  you've  got  to  give  something  before  you 
can  take  anything." 

"  But,  Bob,  I  don't  quite  get  what  you  mean  by 
honest  graft." 

"You  don't  have  to  —  yet,"  said  McManus. 
"  But  when  the  time  comes  I'll  be  round  to  put 
you  wise." 


IV 

ANOTHER   RUBE    CONGRESSMAN 


i 


Honorable  James  Marsh  and  Mrs. 
Marsh  came  to  Washington  ten  days 
before  the  session  of  Congress  began 
in  December.  They  decided  to  leave 
Dorothy,  the  daughter,  with  her  grandmother  in 
Morganville  so  that  she  might  continue  at  school, 
and  planned  to  go  to  a  hotel  for  a  time  until  they 
could  fit  themselves  into  the  life  at  the  capital  in 
their  proper  sphere.  Marsh  knew  no  hotel 
except  the  one  he  had  stayed  at  with  McManus, 
and  he  went  there.  He  asked  for  a  parlour,  a 
bedroom  and  a  bath,  and  was  given  a  small  suite 
on  the  seventh  floor  overlooking  the  roofs  of 
some  adjacent  buildings.  The  rooms  were  com 
fortable  and  the  service  excellent.  Mrs.  Marsh 
was  delighted. 

That  afternoon  she  put  on  one  of  her  prettiest 
gowns  and  went  down  early.  She  had  seen  a 
long  hall,  or  corridor,  rather,  bisecting  the  hotel, 
and  had  observed  this  was  lined  with  sofas  and 
big  carved  and  padded  chairs.  There  were  great 
parlours  and  restaurant  rooms  on  either  side  of 
this  corridor,  which  were  decorated  lavishly  with 

33 


34  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

palms  and  flowering  shrubs  and  potted  plants.  At 
five  o'clock  the  waiters  put  small  tables  along  this 
corridor,  and  dozens  of  handsomely  dressed 
women  came  in  to  have  tea.  A  big  orchestra 
played  in  a  balcony.  There  was  much  bustle  and 
animation,  and  the  women  visited  from  table  to 
table,  while  men  walked  through,  stopped  here  and 
there  to  chat  or  lingered  long  enough  for  a  cup  of 
tea.  She  observed  that  some  of  the  women  were 
old  and  elaborately  dressed  and  that  some  of  them 
were  young  and  still  more  elaborately  dressed. 
She  walked  through  the  corridor,  noticed  that  some 
of  the  men  glanced  at  her  momentarily  and  then 
took  a  seat  to  watch  the  proceedings. 

It  was  a  lively  and  interesting  scene.  The  or 
chestra  played  unceasingly,  devoting  itself  to  the 
popular  airs  of  the  day,  and  the  women  came  and 
went  in  groups  of  two  and  three  and  four.  She 
sat  for  an  hour,  thinking  pleasurably  of  the  com 
ing  afternoons  when  she  would  be  of  the  party,  and 
not  merely  in  it  as  she  was  then,  a  participator  and 
not  a  spectator,  but  she  was  uneasy  about  her 
dress.  It  was  the  ultimate  achievement  of  the 
local  dressmaker  at  Morganville,  but  she  did  not 
see  any  other  like  it.  To  be  sure,  she  had  gone  to 
the  modiste  in  the  city  for  her  evening  gowns,  but 
this  frock  was  her  idea  of  what  she  would  need  in 
her  afternoon  social  duties,  and  she  was  worried, 
and  wondered  if  it  were  possible  that  she  was  not 
so  strictly  in  the  fashion  as  she  had  thought  to  be. 
Soon  after  six  o'clock  she  went  up  to  the  suite. 
Marsh  came  in.  She  decided  she  would  put  on 


35 

her  simplest  evening  gown  and  insisted  that  Marsh 
should  wear  his  dinner  jacket. 

"  What's  the  use  ?  "  asked  Marsh.  "  I'm  tired. 
Let's  go  down  just  as  we  are  and  get  a  bite." 

"  No,"  Mrs.  Marsh  replied  decisively.  "  I'm 
not  going  down  there  on  my  first  night  in  an  after 
noon  dress.  At  six  o'clock  all  the  men  began  ap 
pearing  in  dinner  jackets  and  in  dress-suits,  and  I 
know  the  women  will  have  on  their  best,  and  I'm 
not  going  to  start  out  feeling  uncomfortable  the 
very  first  night." 

Marsh  growled  something  about  a  dinner  jacket 
being  unsuitable,  and  said  he  might  as  well  put  on 
his  full  evening  regalia.  Mrs.  Marsh  insisted  the 
dinner  jacket  would  do,  and  Marsh  put  it  on,  and 
his  growls  grew  to  full-voiced  imprecations 
when  he  clumsily  tried  to  hook-  his  wife's  gown. 
She  was  pretty  when  she  was  ready  to  go. 
Marsh  stood  sulkily  in  the  parlour  waiting  for 
her. 

"  Now,  see  here,  Jim  Marsh,"  she  said,  "  there's 
no  use  of  your  acting  like  this.  You've  got  to 
make  up  your  mind  that  I  am  going  to  be  a  part 
of  the  social  life  in  this  city  and  you've  got  to  help 
me.  I'm  your  wife  and  I  am  entitled  to  take  my 
proper  place.  I  know  what  to  do,  even  if  you 
don't,  and  you  might  as  well  decide,  first  as  last, 
that  you'll  do  as  I  say  in  social  matters." 

"  Huh,"  sneered  Marsh,  "  I  don't  see  anything 
very  social  about  dining  in  a  hotel." 

4  That's  because  you  don't  know.  I  was  down 
there  this  afternoon  at  teatime,  and  I  saw  a  whole 


36  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

lot  of  women  there  I  just  know  —  I  felt  it  —  are 
social  leaders.  They  will  all  be  in  to  dinner  also, 
and  I  am  not  going  down  there  looking  as  if  I 
don't  understand  what  is  what." 

"But,"  persisted  Marsh,  "what's  the  rush? 
We  only  arrived  here  this  morning.  I  don't  see 
the  harm  in  dining  quietly  to-night  and  taking  our 
ease  at  it,  instead  of  being  all  dressed  up  like  horses 
and  buggies." 

Mrs.  Marsh  looked  sharply  at  him.  "  If  you 
do  not  appreciate  your  position  here  I  do,"  she 
said.  "  Also  I  appreciate  my  position.  As  I 
have  said,  I  do  not  intend  to  be  a  mere  unknown 
wife  of  a  congressman.  I  intend  to  be  prominent 
in  society,  and  you've  got  to  help  me.  That's  all 
there  is  to  that." 

"  Oh,  all  right,  all  right,"  Marsh  replied.  "  Of 
course  I'll  help  you,  my  dear.  I  intend  that  you 
shall  be  all  you  desire  to  be  in  that  way,  and,"  he 
added  conciliatingly,  "  you  can  do  it  too.  Never 
fear  that." 

They  went  down.  The  dining-rooms  were 
crowded.  Much  to  Mrs.  Marsh's  surprise  a  large 
proportion  of  the  diners  were  in  street  clothes,  but 
here  and  there  she  noticed  a  table  where  the  women 
were  resplendent  in  jewels  and  low-cut  gowns  and 
the  men  were  in  evening  dress. 

"  Looks  to  me,"  said  Marsh,  "  as  if  there  were 
a  few  here  who  ain't  in  such  a  hurry  as  you  are, 
Molly." 

Mrs.  Marsh  sniffed.  A  dining-room  captain 
approached  them  as  they  stood  uncertain  in  the 


ANOTHER  RUBE  CONGRESSMAN     37 

door  of  the  largest  restaurant  room.  "  A  table 
for  two?  "  he  inquired. 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh.  "A  good  table, 
please.  This  is  my  husband,  the  Honorable  James 
Marsh,  Member  of  Congress,  and  we  want  a  very 
good  table." 

There  was  a  slight  flicker  of  a  smile  round  the 
corners  of  the  mouth  of  the  captain.  He  bowed 
and  said:  "  Certainly,  madam." 

Then  he  led  them  to  a  small  table  in  a  corner  of 
the  room.  "  But,"  protested  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  I 
can't  see  a  thing  here.  Why  can't  we  have  one  of 
those  tables  in  the  centre  of  the  room?  " 

"  I  regret  to  say  those  are  reserved,  madam.1' 

"  Oh,  sit  down,  Molly,"  urged  Marsh.  "  This 
one  is  all  right." 

Mrs.  Marsh  sat  down.  Later  she  saw  very 
ordinary  looking  persons,  some  of  them  in  tweeds 
and  the  women  in  tailored  suits,  shown  to  the  re 
served  tables,  and  still  later  —  oh,  much  later  — 
she  learned  the  efficacy  of  a  dollar  bill  in  securing 
a  "  reserved  "  table  in  a  big  restaurant. 

The  captain  stood  at  attention.  He  had  a  pad 
of  paper  and  a  pencil  in  his  hand  and  had  given 
menu  cards  to  them.  The  menu  card  was  appal 
ling.  It  had  scores  and  scores  of  dishes  on  it, 
most  of  them  with  French  names,  and  it  was  sub 
divided  and  redivided  into  potages,  poissons,  rotis, 
legumes  in  a  bewildering  fashion.  Both  stared 
perplexedly  at  the  confusing  assortment. 

''  Would  you  like  some  oysters?  "  suggested  the 
captain. 


3« 

"  Certainly,"  assented  Marsh,  much  relieved. 

"And  a  clear  soup?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Perhaps  you  would  care  for  some  English  sole 
a  la  margeury?  " 

;'  That'll  be  first  rate." 

"  The  canvasback  ducks  are  excellent  just  now," 
said  the  captain  in  an  entirely  impersonal  manner. 

"  Oh,  Jim,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  do  let's 
have  a  canvasback  duck.  They  come  from  round 
here  somewhere  and  we've  never  had  one,  you 
know." 

Marsh  nodded  his  head.  The  captain  sug 
gested  a  salad,  some  cheese  and  coffee  and  asked 
whether  they  would  like  their  hominy  in  a  chafing- 
dish  or  served  in  the  usual  way. 

"  I  didn't  order  hominy,"  said  Marsh. 

"  It  is  usually  served,"  the  captain  observed. 
"  Do  you  wish  the  large  or  the  small?  " 

"  Let's  have  the  small." 

"What  wine  do  you  prefer?"  The  captain 
ostentatiously  handed  a  wine  list  to  Marsh. 
Marsh  took  it,  looked  at  it  for  a  moment  and 
said:  "  Champagne." 

"  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  indicate  the  brand?  " 

"  Oh,"  stammered  Marsh,  "  any  good  brand." 

"And  cocktails?" 

Marsh  looked  inquiringly  at  his  wife.  She 
shook  her  head.  The  captain  called  a  waiter, 
read  the  order  to  him,  cautioned  him  to  be  very 
careful,  and  hovered  about,  patting  the  tablecloth 
and  rearranging  the  astonishing  array  of  knives 


ANOTHER  RUBE  CONGRESSMAN     39 

and  forks  and  spoons  that  had  been  placed  before 
them  while  they  were  giving  the  order.  Marsh 
and  his  wife  grew  nervous  over  the  hoverings  of 
the  captain  and  wondered  why  he  didn't  leave. 
He  smiled  ingratiatingly,  hoped  the  dinner  would 
be  all  they  could  wish  and  hovered  some  more. 
Finally  he  went  away,  and  as  he  left  Mrs.  Marsh's 
quick  ear  heard  him  say  in  a  hoarse  whisper  to  a 
second  captain  standing  near  by:  "Another  of 
them  rube  Congressmen." 

Marsh  didn't  hear  it.  She  blushed  hotly  and 
stiffened  in  her  chair.  She  would  show  them,  the 
impudent  puppies,  she  thought,  that  they  were  not 
rubes  —  she  would  show  them ! 

The  room  was  crowded  and  gay.  The  din 
ner  was  excellently  and  quickly  served,  and  they 
enjoyed  it,  although  they  found  there  was  rather 
too  much  food  and  it  would  have  been  as  well 
if  they  had  ordered  no  fish.  The  waiter  sug 
gested  a  cordial  and  they  took  it,  and  when  the 
cigar  boy  brought  round  the  cigar  tray  Marsh 
selected  a  long,  thin  one  that  looked  good.  It 
was  good,  too,  and  he  felt  peaceful  and  happy  as 
he  smoked  and  listened  to  his  wife's  comments  on 
the  people  in  the  room. 

Presently  there  was  no  excuse  for  staying 
longer.  The  diners  were  leaving.  Mrs.  Marsh 
noticed  that  a  good  many  of  them  took  their  coffee 
in  the  corridor  outside,  and  resolved  she  would 
next  time.  The  orchestra  had  stopped  playing. 

"  Bring  me  the  check,"  said  Marsh. 

The  waiter  brought  the  check,  laying  face  down 


40  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

on  a  small  silver  salver.  Marsh  reached  into  his 
pocket  for  his  money  and  turned  the  check  over. 
As  he  looked  at  the  red-ink  total  he  gasped  and 
then  whistled. 

"How  much  is  it?"  asked  Mrs.  Marsh  in  a 
whisper,  while  the  waiter  stood  stolidly  by. 
Marsh  did  not  reply.  He  laid  a  twenty-dollar 
bill  on  the  salver  and  rose  to  go. 

"  Aren't  you  going  to  wait  for  your  change?  " 
asked  Mrs.  Marsh. 

"  There  won't  be  any  change." 

"  Jim  Marsh,  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  din 
ner  cost  twenty  dollars?" 

"  Not  exactly,  but  with  the  tip  it  will  come  to 
the  twenty  all  right." 

It  was  Mrs.  Marsh's  turn  to  gasp.  She  pursed 
her  lips  and  was  deep  in  thought  most  of  the  time 
they  remained  in  the  corridor. 

At  ten  o'clock  they  went  upstairs.  Marsh  sat 
down  in  a  big  chair  to  finish  his  second  cigar  and 
Mrs.  Marsh  wandered  about  the  room,  looking 
at  the  pictures  and  examining  the  furniture.  She 
noticed  a  small  placard  tacked  on  the  door.  She 
read  it  and  turned  suddenly  on  Marsh. 

"Jim  Marsh!"  she  exclaimed.  "Do  you 
know  how  much  these  rooms  are  costing  us?  " 

"  About  five  dollars  a  day,  I  suppose." 

"Did  you  ask?" 

"  Why,  no ;  I  didn't  ask.  I  just  registered  and 
told  the  clerk  what  I  wanted." 

"  Come  here !  "  she  commanded.  "  Come 
straight  here  and  look  at  this." 


ANOTHER  RUBE  CONGRESSMAN     411 

He  walked  over  and  looked  at  the  placard  to 
which  she  was  pointing.  It  read:  "  The  price  o£ 
this  suite,  exclusive  of  meals  is  $11  a  day." 

"Holy  Moses!  "  shouted  Marsh. 

"  I  should  think  so,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh. 
"  Here  we  have  been  in  this  hotel  less  than  half 
a  day  and  we've  got  to  stay  here  until  the  morning, 
and  then  without  any  breakfast  we've  spent  more 
than  thirty  dollars  for  one  meal  and  a  place  to 
sleep,  to  say  nothing  of  tips  and  baggage  and  all 
that.  It's  an  outrage." 

"  It  was  a  good  meal,"  suggested  MarsH 
weakly. 

"  Good  meal  or  not,  we'll  get  right  out  of  here." 

"  But  think  of  your  social  aspirations." 

"  I  don't  need  a  millionaire's  hotel  to  help  me 
succeed  socially,"  she  snapped.  "  We'll  find  an 
other  place  to-morrow." 

Marsh  had  been  doing  some  figuring.  He  had 
only  a  few  hundred  dollars  ahead,  as  he  had  paid 
off  many  obligations  before  he  left  Morganville, 
and  his  politics  had  prevented  his  giving  his  whole 
time  to  his  profession.  At  thirty  dollars  a  day, 
with  a  salary  of  $5000  a  year  —  it  was  before  the 
Congressional  salaries  had  been  raised  to  $7500 
—  and  a  few  hundred  dollars  for  mileage,  and  his 
clerk  hire  and  stationery  account,  he  could  see 
bankruptcy  ahead  of  him.  Of  course  they 
wouldn't  always  eat  twenty-dollar  meals,  but  they 
couldn't  eat  four-dollar  ones,  pay  this  room  rental 
and  have  anything  left. 

Next  morning  Marsh  went  up  to  the  Capitol 


42  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

and  met  some  of  the  members  of  the  House.  He 
made  inquiries  and  discovered  that  Washington 
is  speckled  with  hotels  not  so  expensive  as  the 
one  at  which  he  was  staying,  where  many  of  the 
representatives  and  senators  live,  and  that  after 
noon  he  and  his  wife  went  out  to  find  one  of  these. 
They  took  two  rooms  at  a  rather  pretentious  hotel 
on  a  street  not  far  from  the  centre  of  the  city. 
This  hotel  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  congres 
sional  people.  It  catered  to  them.  The  price 
was  two  hundred  dollars  a  month  for  two  rooms 
and  bath  and  meals,  as  the  hotel  ran  on  the  Amer 
ican  plan.  They  moved  at  once,  and  that  night, 
in  the  lobby  of  their  new  hotel  home,  Mrs.  Marsh 
met  a  number  of  the  wives  of  other  members,  and 
observed,  not  without  disquiet  again,  that  her  gown 
seemed  to  fit  in  better  in  the  general  sartorial 
scheme  there  than  it  had  at  the  big  hostelry. 


"TAKE  D.  £." 

MARSH  spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time 
at  the  Capitol,  getting  acquainted 
with  other  members,  finding  out  what 
his  perquisites  were,  and  he  soon 
learned  the  important  thing  for  a  new  mem 
ber  is  to  get  on  a  good  committee.  He  had  de 
cided  he  would  go  on  the  Judiciary  Committee, 
as  that  was  in  his  professional  line,  and  he  felt 
his  knowledge  of  the  law  and  his  reputation  as 
a  lawyer  would  make  him  valuable  there.  As  for 
the  other  committees  he  was  not  so  particular, 
although  Public  Lands,  or  Irrigation,  or  Rivers 
and  Harbours  would  be  to  his  liking,  inasmuch 
as  he  came  from  a  Western  state  where  the  ques 
tions  considered  by  the  land  and  irrigation  com 
mittees  are  important  and  there  was  some  dredg 
ing  to  be  done  in  the  big  river  in  his  district. 

He  tried  several  times  to  see  the  man  who  was 
slated  to  be  speaker,  and  who  had  the  making  of 
the  committees;  but  he  found  the  room  crowded 
with  members  on  the  same  quest  as  himself. 
They  were  all  eager  to  get  good  places,  and  were 
all  using  every  influence  they  could  bring  to  bear  on 
the  speaker,  urging  their  claims  and  lobbying  in 

43 


44  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

every  possible  way  for  preferment.  Marsh  ex 
pected  the  speaker  would  see  him  at  once,  and  he 
was  much  abashed  to  find  he  was  of  no  particular 
importance  in  the  gathering.  Men  who  had 
served  for  years  with  the  speaker  came  and  went 
into  the  inner  room,  but  the  suave  secretary  to  the 
speaker  and  the  suaver  negro  messenger  kept  him 
outside,  with  polite  assurances  that  the  speaker 
would  see  him  presently. 

After  three  attempts  the  speaker's  secretary 
told  him  the  speaker  would  see  him  in  half  an 
hour.  About  an  hour  after  that,  during  which 
time  Marsh  had  sat  impatiently  in  the  outer  room, 
discussing  committee  places  and  nothing  else  with 
other  waiting  members,  the  negro  messenger  came 
over  and  said:  "Mr.  Marsh,  will  you  please 
step  this  way?  " 

Marsh  went  in.  The  speaker  was  hunched  low 
in  a  chair.  He  was  chewing  the  stub  of  a  cigar. 
He  did  not  rise,  but  nodded  and  said:  "  Marsh?  " 
with  a  sharp  rising  inflection. 

•'  Yes,  Mr.  Speaker." 

"  Sit  down."  The  speaker  removed  his  cigar, 
spat  vigorously  and  asked  abruptly:  "  Well,  what 
do  you  want?  " 

"  I  want  to  consult  with  you  on  my  committee 
places." 

"  Which  do  you  prefer,  Ways  and  Means  or 
Appropriations?"  the  speaker  asked  with  elabo 
rate  irony. 

"Why,  I  hadn't  thought  of  either;  but  of 
course  — " 


"TAKE  D.  C"  45 

"  Oh,  for  Heaven's  sake,"  said  the  speaker  im 
patiently,  "  that  was  a  josh,  young  fellow!  Now 
what  do  you  want?  " 

"  I  thought  I  might;  be  of  service  on  the  Com 
mittee  of  Judiciary,  and  would  take  details  on 
Public  Lands  and  Irrigation,  or  possibly,  Rivers 
and  Harbours." 

"You  would  take  those,  would  you?  Agree 
able  and  accommodating  young  person,  I  should 
say!" 

"  Of  course,  if  there  are  any  other  equally  good 
places  — " 

The  speaker  rose  and  walked  across  the  room, 
talking  to  himself:  "  God  in  Israel!  They  are 
all  alike,  they  are  all  alike,"  he  muttered.  "  Come 
in  here  fresh  from  the  brush  and  want  to  go  on  the 
biggest  committees  right  on  the  jump.  Has 
plain,  ordinary  horse-sense  become  a  lost  com 
modity  in  this  American  nation?  "  He  turned 
to  Marsh.  "  Don't  you  know,"  he  snarled, 
"  that  there  are  more  than  two  hundred  fellows 
just  like  you  here  now,  all  hoping  to  get  on 
the  big  committees  and  driving  me  to  drink 
because  I  can't  make  more  places  than  there  are? 
Don't  you  know  that  experience  is  the  only  thing 
that  counts  in  this  House,  and  that  I  can't  jump 
a  lot  of  you  new  men,  however  important  you  may 
think  you  are,  over  the  heads  of  the  boys  who  have 
been  in  the  game  for  years?  Wake  up,  young 
fellow,  wake  up!  Judiciary,  hey?" 

"  Yes,  I  would  prefer  Judiciary,"  said  Marsh, 
who  felt  very  small  and  insignificant. 


46  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

i{  Well,  you  can't  have  Judiciary,  for  every 
cornfield  lawyer  who  oozes  into  this  House  makes 
a  break  for  that  committee  right  off  the  bat.  You 
can't  have  Judiciary.  That's  full  and  running 
over  already." 

"What  can  I  have?" 

The  speaker  looked  at  a  list  he  had  on  the 
table. 

"  I  want  to  do  the  best  I  can  for  you,"  he  said. 
"  I  can  put  you  at  the  bottom  of  District  of  Colum 
bia  or  put  you  on  Mines  and  Mining.  Probably 
I  can  squeeze  you  in  on  a  smaller  one  or  two. 
Which  will  you  have?" 

Marsh  knew  nothing  about  either  committee. 
He  asked  for  time.  "  All  right,"  said  the 
speaker.  "  Drop  me  a  note  when  you  have  made 
up  your  mind.  Remember,  now,  I  want  to  do 
well  by  you,  but  the  pressure  is  frightful,  and 
every  man  who  comes  in  here  thinks  he  is  an 
ace,  whereas  most  of  them  are  devices.  Drop 
me  a  line  when  you've  decided.  Don't  come 
round  here  for  a  few  days  for  I'm  busy  —  I'm  so 
damned  busy  I  can't  get  time  to  sleep." 

Marsh  talked  over  the  committee  places.  He 
discovered  that  the  House  and  Senate  District  of 
Columbia  committees  act  as  the  boards  of  alder 
men  and  councilmen  for  the  city  of  Washington, 
and  that  the  committee  is  an  important  one.  Still 
he  was  undecided  and  perplexed.  He  didn't  want 
to  appear  too  green  and  he  was  cautious  about 
asking  advice  from  other  members  he  had  met. 
So  he  turned  to  McManus  and  telegraphed  to 


'TAKE  D.  C."  47 

him :  "  Can  go  on  District  of  Columbia  or  Mines 
and  Mining.  Which  do  you  advise  ?  " 

A  few  hours  later  he  received  this  reply: 
11  Take  D.  C.  McManus." 

Next  day  Marsh  went  over  to  call  on  the  senior 
senator  from  his  state,  William  N.  Paxton,  a  fam 
ous  warrior  of  the  Republican  party,  who  had  been 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  many  years 
and  then  had  been  promoted  to  the  Senate.  He 
was  sixty  years  old,  short,  ruddy,  good-humoured, 
rich,  although  he  had  had  no  visible  means  of  sup 
port  save  politics  for  forty  years,  and  he  was  a 
fixture  in  the  Senate  apparently.  He  seemed  a 
jolly,  pleasant  man,  but  he  could  be  as  cold  as  a 
wedge  when  the  occasion  demanded,  and  he  had 
a  reputation  that  extended  all  over  the  country 
for  standing  by  his  party  and  his  friends.  He 
was  not  an  orator,  but  was  a  good,  straightfor 
ward  talker,  convincing  in  debate  and  one  of  the 
most  adroit  politicians  in  the  Senate.  He  had 
reached  the  age  when  all  he  cared  for  was  the 
pleasure  of  being  a  part  of  things,  and  he  was 
under  no  delusions  about  either  the  congressional 
machinery  or  the  congressional  machinists. 

He  might  have  retired  and  lived  a  life  of  ease, 
but  he  couldn't.  So  long  as  there  was  a  breath 
in  him  he  would  be  in  politics,  and  no  man  in  the 
Republic  was  more  skilful  in  keeping  his  fences 
up  and  his  constituents  well  in  hand.  He  was  a 
genial,  companionable  man,  famed  for  his  dinners, 
who  liked  to  play  poker  with  his  cronies,  loved  to 
sit  in  the  cloakroom  and  swap  stories,  who  was 


48  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

always  at  hand  where  there  was  work  to  be  done, 
and  had  great  potency  in  shaping  the  affairs  of 
the  Senate.  Indeed,  he  was  one  of  the  little 
oligarchy  of  five  or  six  members  who  controlled 
the  majority  in  the  Senate  and  thus  controlled  the 
Senate. 

"  Glad  to  see  you,"  he  said  to  Marsh. 
"  Hoped  you  would  get  round.  Most  of  the 
other  boys  have  been  over.  How  are  you  making 
out?" 

"All  right,  I  guess,"  Marsh  replied.  "The 
speaker  says  I  can  go  on  District  of  Columbia  or 
on  Mines  and  Mining." 

"  I  spoke  to  him  about  you.  If  I  were  you  I'd 
take  District  of  Columbia.  Plenty  of  hard  work, 
but  it  gives  you  an  insight  into  the  town  where 
you'll  spend  most  of  your  time  for  some  years,  if 
you  are  as  successful  as  I  think  you  will  be,  and 
might  result  in  your  personal  advantage." 

"  Great  God!  "  blurted  Marsh,  "  am  I  nothing 
in  this  Congress?  Can't  I  get  anything  on  my 
own  account  without  help  from  you  or  McManus. 
iWhere  do  I  come  in?  I  am  a  member  of  the 
House,  elected  on  my  own  merits.  Am  I  a  zero 
in  this  layout?  " 

Senator  Paxton  smiled  indulgently.  "  Have  a 
cigar,"  he  said,  "  and  listen  to  me  for  a  minute." 
He  took  a  box  of  cigars  from  his  desk,  held  it  out 
while  Marsh  made  a  selection,  took  one  himself, 
lighted  it  carefully,  looked  at  the  end  intently  to 
see  that  it  was  burning  evenly,  blew  a  puff  of 
smoke  or  two  into  the  air,  took  out  his  cigar 


"TAKE  D.  C."  49 

again,  and  again  inspected  the  ash,  crossed  his 
legs  comfortably  and  began: 

"  Now,  Marsh,  you  mustn't  think  your  case  is 
any  different  from  the  cases  of  the  vast  hordes  of 
new  members  who  have  been  flocking  in  here  since 
we  began  to  do  business  at  this  stand.  It  isn't. 
You  are  a  new  member.  Nobody  here  gives  a 
whoop  about  you  until  you  prove  up.  I  have 
served  in  the  House  and  I  have  served  in  the  Sen 
ate,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  one  thing  and  that  is 
this:  The  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  of  America  is  the  greatest  democracy 
on  this  earth.  It  doesn't  make  a  particle  of  dif 
ference  what  you  have  been  or  what  you  have  done 
before  you  go  there.  Past  performances  do  not 
count;  you  have  to  prove  up  all  over  again.  You 
have  got  to  make  good  right  there  on  the  floor 
of  that  House  and  in  its  committee  rooms,  before 
the  other  members  will  take  you  at  your  own  esti 
mate  or  at  the  estimate  of  the  people  who  sent  you 
there. 

"  You  think  you  are  an  orator.  Perhaps  you 
are.  Putting  aside  the  fact  that  oratory  doesn't 
get  you  much  of  anything  in  the  House,  and  per 
sonal  influence  does  get  you  a  whole  heap,  the 
mere  statement  that  you  are  an  orator  means 
nothing.  You  have  got  to  show  those  boys  there 
on  the  floor.  You  have  got  to  make  a  speech  or 
a  series  of  speeches  and  convince  them.  And 
you've  got  to  make  them  here  on  this  spot,  not  out 
in  Morganville  or  anywhere  else. 

"  You  are  a  lawyer.     I  know  you  are  a  good 


50  THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

one.  But  these  fellows  don't  know  it,  and  they 
will  refuse  to  believe  it  until  you  show  them  you 
are  a  lawyer.  You  may  have  won  plenty  of  cases 
and  had  a  reputation  at  your  local  bar,  but  it 
takes  a  demonstration  of  your  legal  acumen  in 
Washington  to  convince  these  doubting  Thomases. 
And  don't  misunderstand  me.  They  won't  hinder 
you  in  your  showing  what  you  are.  They  will 
help  you.  They  are  kindly,  human,  decent  folks, 
and  all  of  them  are  playing  the  same  game  you 
are  playing.  But  you've  got  to  display  your 
wares.  Every  man  stands  on  his  own  feet  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  He  makes  or  un 
makes  himself  there.  If  you  have  the  goods  they 
will  accept  those  goods  after  they  have  examined 
them,  but  not  before  or  on  your  say-so. 

"  Successful  legislators  are  made  so  by  experi 
ence,  and  by  no  other  method.  Compared  to  a 
mediocre  experienced  man  who  knows  the  me 
chanics  of  the  outfit,  the  brightest  man  in  the  coun 
try,  without  experience,  is  a  child  in  getting  re 
sults.  Experience  is  what  counts  —  knowledge 
of  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it.  You  won't 
amount  to  a  hill  of  beans  during  your  first  term, 
or  probably  during  your  second  term.  You've 
got  to  learn,  but  if  you  are  the  kind  of  a  man  I 
take  you  for  you  will  learn  right  enough,  and  then 
you  can  be  of  some  value  to  your  constituents  and 
to  yourself." 

Senator  Paxton  stopped  and  puffed  reflectively 
at  his  cigar.  Marsh  was  listening  eagerly. 

"  Now  let  me  tell  you  some  things  I  have  learned 


"TAKE  D.  C."  51 

during  my  years  at  Washington.  If  you  will  take 
the  trouble  to  look  over  the  men  who  are  the 
leaders  in  this  House  and  in  this  Senate  you  will 
undoubtedly  think  some  of  them  are  misfits,  has- 
beens  and  never-wases,  that  they  are  not  big 
enough  for  the  places  they  hold,  or  are  old  dodoes 
past  their  prime  who  should  give  place  to  younger 
and  stronger  men.  That  may  be  so,  but  if  you 
will  go  into  the  subject  you  will  find  there  isn't 
one  of  these  men  for  whom  there  isn't  a  reason  as 
big  as  the  Washington  Monument  —  a  reason, 
Marsh,  a  reason  back  home  or  here. 

"  Men  do  not  get  prominence  in  Congress  by 
haphazard  methods,  by  luck,  or  by  any  procedure 
other  than  the  hard  work  that  gives  them  the  all- 
essential  experience  in  legislation  and  the  ability 
to  realise  on  it.  There  always  is  a  reason  for  the 
power  of  these  men,  and  a  mighty  good  one  too. 

"  Moreover,  right  here  at  the  beginning  of  your 
career  I  want  to  tell  you  of  the  mistake  that  has 
wrecked  more  congressional  careers  than  any 
other.  That  is  the  mistake  of  forgetting  the  peo 
ple  in  the  district.  Men  come  here  term  after 
term,  get  infatuated  with  Washington  life,  begin 
to  think  they  are  secure,  don't  go  back  home  and 
mix  with  the  boys,  forget  their  obligations  or  be 
come  impatient  over  them,  and  one  day  they  wake 
up  and  find  that  some  bright  young  lawyer,  who 
has  been  moving  about  the  district,  has  beaten 
them  for  the  nomination,  and  they  become  the 
most  melancholy  objects  on  this  green  earth  — 
retired  statesmen,  ghosts  who  wander  about  think- 


52  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ing  ghostly  thoughts  of  past  glories  and  filled  with 
ghostly  memories  of  other  and  power  days. 

"  Don't  forget  the  folks  back  home  are  the  ones 
who  send  you  here.  No  matter  how  important 
you  may  get  to  be  here,  the  folks  back  home  have 
the  votes.  They  are  the  foundations  and  the 
arches  and  the  towers  and  the  battlements  of  your 
structure." 

The  senator  stopped  and  smoked  again. 
"  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  forgive  me  for  lecturing  you, 
but  I  want  to  see  you  succeed.  I  can't  live  for 
ever.  There's  no  reason  why  you  shouldn't  take 
my  place  in  the  Senate  when  I  go  * —  no  reason 
except  one." 

"  What  is  that?  "  asked  Marsh,  already  seeing 
visions  of  himself  in  the  Senate. 

"  Perhaps  you  won't  play  the  game." 

"Play  the  game?" 

"  Yes,  you  must  play  the  game.  You  must  be 
regular,  you  must  be  with  the  organisation,  you 
must  act  with  your  majority,  if  it  is  a  majority,  or 
with  your  minority,  if  it  is  a  minority.  The  suc 
cess  the  Republican  party  has  had  all  these  years 
has  been  due  to  its  discipline,  to  its  organisation. 
Every  soldier  has  taken  orders  and  obeyed  them. 
You  must  play  the  game." 

Marsh  walked  up  to  his  hotel,  revolving  in  his 
mind  what  the  senator  had  said.  He  recalled  the 
insistence  of  everybody  that  he  must  play  the 
game.  What  was  the  game?  He  wondered 
vaguely  if  he  would  be  a  good  player  and  if  it 
would  be  a  good  game. 


VI 

THE    FIRST   RECEPTION 

CONGRESS  opened  with  a  great  bustle 
and  clamour.  The  new  speaker  was 
elected.  Marsh  was  given  two  assist 
ant  doortenders  as  his  share  of  the 
patronage  doled  out  by  what  was  known  as  the 
Hog  Combine,  an  organisation  of  older  majority; 
members  who  had  the  influence  and  votes  to  con 
trol  the  distribution  of  the  pie,  and  was  told  he 
might  have  a  fifteen-hundred-dollar  extra  clerk 
later  in  the  session.  McManus  promptly  sent  on 
men  for  the  places.  Marsh  was  assigned  to  the 
committees  on  District  of  Columbia,  Revision  of 
the  Laws  and  Expenditures  in  the  Navy  Depart 
ment.  He  soon  found  these  latter  committees 
were  merely  ornamental,  like  many  others,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  chairmanships  and 
clerks  to  the  faithful.  The  House  droned  along 
for  a  few  days,  took  the  Christmas  recess,  and 
came  back  early  in  January  to  square  away  for 
the  work  of  the  session. 

Marsh  and  his  wife  went  to  Morganville  for 
Christmas  and  spent  a  week  at  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Marsh's  mother,  a  widow  who  had  a  small  in- 

53 


54  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

come  from  her  husband's  life  insurance.  Dorothy 
was  well  and  progressing  in  her  studies.  They 
returned  to  the  Bruxton  Hotel  a  day  or  so  before 
New  Year's  and  Mrs.  Marsh  took  up  the  consider 
ation  of  her  social  plans.  Marsh  was  in  receipt 
of  some  little  money  on  an  old  account,  when  he 
was  in  Morganville,  but  he  was  not  happy  finan 
cially.  His  hotel  bills  were  bigger  than  he  had 
thought  they  would  be  and  Mrs.  Marsh  needed 
more  money  than  he  expected  she  would. 

*'  Molly,"  he  said  one  day  at  breakfast,  "  when 
are  you  going  to  start  something  socially?  " 

"  Pretty  soon,"  Mrs.  Marsh  replied.  "  Next 
week,  Wednesday,  I  am  going  with  some  of  the 
other  ladies  to  make  the  Cabinet  calls  and  on 
the  Thursday  after  that  to  make  the  senatorial 
calls.  Then  we  are  to  have  our  first  reception 
here  the  week  after  that." 

"Who's  we?" 

"  The  congressional  ladies  living  in  this  hotel," 
said  Mrs.  Marsh  with  much  dignity. 

There  were  fifteen  or  sixteen  of  them,  mostly 
wives  of  representatives  from  the  West  and  South, 
and  not  many  of  them  who  had  been  much  in 
Washington,  although  several  of  the  husbands 
had  served  two  terms  and  one  had  lived  in  the 
city  during  Congresses  for  six  years.  She  was 
a  quiet  woman  and  not  much  taken  with  society, 
and  the  two-termers  were  the  social  arbiters  for 
that  hotel  set. 

Four  of  the  ladies,  including  Mrs.  Marsh,  en 
gaged  a  carriage  jointly  and  set  out  to  make  the 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  '55 

Cabinet  calls  on  the  required  Wednesday.  When 
Marsh  got  home  that  night  Mrs.  Marsh  was 
waiting  for  him  in  the  lobby,  blazing  with  indig 
nation. 

"  Oh,  Jim,"  she  gasped. 

"What's  the  matter,  Molly?"  he  asked. 
"  Did  a  Cabinet  woman  bite  you?  " 

"  If  you  knew  what  I  have  gone  through  this 
afternoon  you  wouldn't  talk  to  me  that  way!" 
she  flared. 

"  Come  upstairs,  Molly,"  soothed  Marsh, 
"  and  then  you  can  tell  me  all  about  it.  What 
happened?  "  he  asked,  when  they  had  reached  the 
room. 

"What  happened?  What  didn't  happen?  I 
never  was  so  humiliated  in  my  life.  If  you  don't 
do  something  about  it  I'll  go  straight  home  to 
Morganville." 

"  But  how  the  devil  can  I  do  anything  until  I 
know  what  there  is  to  do?  " 

;'  Well,  Mrs.  Going  and  Mrs.  Johnson  and 
Mrs.  Exeter  and  myself  took  a  carnage  this 
afternoon  to  make  our  Cabinet  calls." 

"  Did  you  have  to  make  them?  " 

"  Of  course;  else  the  Cabinet  women  won't  call 
on  us;  you  see.  It  was  bad  enough  at  the  first 
house  we  went  to.  There  was  a  butler  at  the 
door  and  he  took  our  cards,  and  pretty  soon  we 
were  ushered  up  a  stairway  and  into  a  room  full 
of  women  with  a  lot  of  them  standing  in  a  line, 
at  the  head  of  which  was  the  Cabinet  woman,  and 
we  were  introduced  to  her  and  then  passed  down 


5"6  THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

the  line.  Before  I  got  to  the  end  my  name  had 
been  twisted  from  Marsh  to  Smarsh  and  Larsh 
and  Darsh  and  the  end  woman  called  me  Smith, 
and  all  of  them  stuck  out  clammy  hands  to  us  and 
limply  shook  them  at  us,  and  said:  '  How-do  '  and 
asked  us:  'How  do  you  like  Washington?'  and 
then  went  on  talking  to  one  another.  A  servant 
shoved  us  over  to  a  table  where  there  was  a  sort 
of  pink  lemonade  and  some  frowsy  ladyfingers  on 
plates  and  another  servant  dipped  us  out  a  sloppy 
cup  of  that  pink  stuff  that  tasted  a  little  like  that 
champagne  we  had  at  the  hotel  the  first  night  we 
came,  only  very  weak.  We  drank  it  and  then 
stood  round  on  one  foot  and  another,  and  not 
one  of  the  women  in  the  line  paid  any  attention 
to  us  or  looked  as  if  she  knew  we  were  on  the 
earth.  At  last  we  escaped." 

She  stopped  out  of  breath. 

"  That  was  pretty  tough !  "  laughed  Marsh. 

"  You  wait,"  she  went  on.  "  That's  not  the 
worst.  We  went  to  another  Cabinet  place  and 
it  Was  about  the  same  there,  although  this  Cabinet 
woman  is  from  our  state  and  she  asked  me  if  I 
lived  in  it.  And  every  last  one  of  the  ladies  in 
the  line  said:  '  How-do,  Mrs.  Parsh;  how  do  you 
like  Washington?'  and  we  drank  some  more  of 
that  horrid  pink  stuff,  only  this  time  it  was  yellow 
ish. 

"  At  the  next  place  the  Cabinet  woman  didn't 
have  any  one  to  help  her  receive.  She  was  doing 
it  alone.  She  stood  in  the  hall  talking  to  two 
young  squirts  of  Central  American  legation 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  57 

second-secretaries,  and  as  the  butler  announced  us 
she  never  even  turned  her  head,  but  stuck  out  her 
hand  at  us  and  said:  '  How-do/  and  kept  on  talk 
ing.  We  were  shooed  into  a  drawing  room  and 
there  found  a  lot  of  other  women,  congressmen's 
wives,  too,  standing  round  like  a  lot  of  schoolgirls 
and  not  knowing  what  to  do.  She  kept  on  talk 
ing  and  laughing  with  the  two  little  pie-faced 
secretaries,  and  we  stood  there  like  a  flock  of  geese 
until  some  woman,  I  don't  know  who  she  was, 
announced  she  was  not  going  to  put  up  with  it 
any  longer,  and  made  for  the  door.  We  all  fol 
lowed,  and  the  Cabinet  woman  never  even  noticed 
us.  When  one  of  us  went  up  to  her  and  told 
her  *  we  have  enjoyed  our  visit  with  you,  Mrs.  Sec 
retary,'  she  sort  of  raised  her  eyebrows  as  if  to 
ask:  '  Who  the  dickens  are  you  and  how  did  you 
get  in  here?  '  and  kept  on  talking,  and  never  even 
said  good-bye  or  anything.  I'm  not  going  to 
stand  that  sort  of  thing,  Jim,  and  you've  just  got 
to  do  something  about  it." 

"All  right,  all  right,"  soothed  her  husband; 
"  but  come  on  down  to  dinner  now." 

The  hotel  that  night  buzzed  with  the  discussion 
and  comment  on  the  action  of  the  Cabinet  women. 
The  older  ones  tried  to  pacify  the  newer  ones  by 
telling  them  how  perfunctory  these  Cabinet  calls 
were,  anyhow,  and  how  the  only  recognition  they 
would  get  would  be  some  day  when  a  carriage 
would  drive  up  in  front  of  the  hotel  and  a  foot 
man  come  in  and  hand  the  clerk  a  lot  of  cards  for 
the  ladies  who  had  left  their  cards,  and  ten  to  one 


58  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  Cabinet  woman  wouldn't  be  in  the  carriage 
even. 

Then  came  the  first  grand  reception  of  the  con 
gressional  ladies  of  the  hotel.  There  was  much' 
excitement  and  meetings  were  held  in  the  lobbies 
and  in  the  parlours  for  several  days  to  discuss 
plans,  arrange  details  and  make  out  lists  of  those  to 
whom  cards  should  be  sent.  The  older  ones  fixed 
up  the  notices  of  the  society  columns  of  the  news 
papers,  telling  how  the  ladies  of  the  hotel  would 
receive  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  and  giving  their 
names.  Next  morning  the  papers  were  eagerly 
read  to  see  if  the  notice  was  printed.  It  was  there 
near  the  top,  and  Mrs.  James  Marsh  cut  the  items 
out  of  her  papers  and  carefully  preserved  them. 
It  was  the  first  time  her  name  had  appeared  in  the 
social  columns  of  a  newspaper  printed  outside  of 
Morganville,  but  she  firmly  resolved  it  should  not 
be  the  last. 

There  were  long  discussions  over  the  list  of 
those  to  whom  cards  should  be  sent.  Some  were 
for  including  this  one  and  excluding  that  one. 
"  You  must  send  cards  to  everybody,"  explained 
the  third-termer,  the  quiet  woman  who  didn't  care 
for  society.  "  Then,  no  matter  if  none  of  the 
big  ones  comes,  you  can  send  the  papers  a  notice 
saying:  '  Among  those  invited  were,'  and  give  all 
the  best  names,  and  nobody  but  the  society  editors 
will  know  they  didn't  come,  especially  nobody 
back  home  when  we  send  the  papers  out." 

So  everybody  was  invited,  and  there  was  much 
planning  of  costumes  and  remodelling  of  gowns 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  59 

and  discussing  over  the  proper  places  to  put  the 
ferns  and  palms  and  rubber  plants  that  were  to  be 
'hired  from  the  near-by  florist  to  supplement  the 
dusty  foliage  that  stood  permanently  about  the 
hotel  lobby  and  in  the  parlours. 

The  momentous  afternoon  came.  At  four 
o'clock  the  congressional  ladies  of  the  Bruxton 
Hotel  gathered  in  the  parlours.  Each  lady  wore 
her  fussiest  specimen  of  the  home  dressmaker's  art, 
and  each  one  carried  a  bunch  of  pink  carnations 
or  pink  sweet-peas  tied  with  pink  gauze  —  each 
one  except  Mrs.  Marsh.  She  carried  a  cluster  of 
roses,  and  some  of  the  other  women  wondered 
why  they  hadn't  bought  roses,  too,  for  Mrs. 
Marsh's  flowers  gave  her  an  air  of  distinction. 
Besides,  hers  were  tied  with  satin  ribbon  and  not 
with  pink  gauze.  All  the  ladies  had  on  white 
gloves.  There  was  a  faint  odour  of  benzine, 
mingled  with  the  heavy  perfumes  some  of  them 
used,  and  the  frozen  florist-smell  of  the  cold 
storage  flowers.  They  looked  self-conscious  and 
important  and  most  of  them  were  nervous.  Not 
many  of  them  ever  had  participated  in  so 
fashionable  a  function  as  this,  and  each  watched 
the  other  to  see  what  should  be  done,  copying 
the  airs  of  those  who  appeared  at  ease.  These 
sophisticated  ones,  really  nervous  themselves,  took 
their  cues  from  the  older  ones  who  had  been  to  big 
receptions  and  had  observed  at  close  range  the 
manners  of  the  grandes  dames. 

Guests  who  came  to  the  reception  were  expected 
to  turn  sharply  to  the  right  after  they  entered, 


6o  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

pass  along  a  corridor  and  thence  into  the  parlours. 
A  cluster  of  baskets,  all  tied  with  ribbons  and  each 
bearing  a  card  on  which  was  the  name  of  one  of 
the  ladies  in  the  receiving  line,  was  in  this  corri 
dor  on  a  table.  The  visitors  were  expected  to 
drop  their  three  cards  two  for  the  husband  and 
one  for  the  wife  —  into  whichever  of  these 
baskets  belonged  to  the  receiving  lady  who  was 
the  particular  object  of  that  particular  call.  Thus 
Mrs.  Marsh's  friends  would  drop  their  cards  in 
Mrs.  Marsh's  basket,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  would 
know,  after  the  reception,  to  whom  she  owed  calls. 
A  bowl  of  punch  had  been  provided,  and  a  negro 
in  white  gloves  and  a  spotted  dress-suit  was  serv 
ing  it.  It  was  near-champagne  punch  —  two 
bottles  of  domestic  brand  in  a  gallon  of  water, 
with  sugar  and  lemons  and  a  few  other  things 
added.  There  were  small  cakes  on  plates  and 
little  lettuce  sandwiches. 

The  women  stood  in  groups,  looking  like  weep 
ing  willows  and  waiting  for  their  callers.  It  was 
ghastly  for  the  first  half  hour,  for  nobody  came, 
and  a  few  of  the  newer  congressional  ladies  of  the 
Bruxton  Hotel  were  on  the  verge  of  tears  over 
the  failure  of  their  debuts  as  hostesses.  In 
about  three-quarters  of  an  hour  a  few  women 
dropped  in,  the  Bruxton  ladies  formed  them 
selves  into  a  wavering  line,  and  these  guests,  who 
were  from  the  congressional  sets  in  the  other 
hotels,  were  presented  in  turn.  They  stood  about 
for  a  few  moments,  chatted,  asked  their  hostesses 
how  they  liked  Washington,  assured  them  they 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  '61 

would  like  Washington  very  much — "the  social 
life  is  so  interesting " —  had  some  punch  and 
slipped  away.  At  a  half  after  five  there  had  been 
forty  or  fifty  callers  and  the  reception  was  an  as 
sured  success.  The  congressional  ladies  of  the 
Bruxton  Hotel  were  jubilant;  but  they  still  clung 
desperately  to  their  flowers,  and  listened  eagerly 
for  the  roll  of  carriage  wheels  on  the  asphalt  out 
side,  as  they  knew  the  most  fashionable  women 
delayed  their  calls  until  the  last. 

There  had  been  no  carriage  calls,  but  at  twenty 
minutes  to  six  a  carriage  drove  up,  a  real  carriage 
with  a  liveried  coachmart,  a  liveried  footman  and 
a  crest  on  the  door  of  it.  It  could  be  nothing  less 
than  a  Cabinet  carriage,  the  excited  ladies  said, 
as  they  peered  through  the  window,  and  there  was 
a  great  fluttering  of  hearts  and  fans  and  hurried 
scramble  to  get  in  line  to  receive  the  distinguished 
guest.  They  waited.  No  one  came.  Then  a 
curious  one  peeked  through  a  window. 

"  Oh,  dear,"  she  said,  "  she's  not  coming  in. 
She's  only  leaving  cards!  " 

It  was  true  enough.  The  distinguished  guest 
' —  who  was  a  Cabinet  lady,  for  some  of  the  Brux 
ton  ladies  recognised  the  carriage  —  didn't  deign 
to  call  in  person.  Instead,  if  she  happened  to  be 
in  the  carriage,  which  no  one  could  tell,  she  sent 
her  footman  to  the  door  with  her  three  cards  — 
two  for  the  secretary  and  one  for  herself — and 
the  footman  gave  the  cards  to  the  doorman,  hur 
ried  back,  hopped  on  the  box,  and  the  carriage 
rumbled  away,  the  ceremony  being  over.  The 


62  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Bruxton  ladies  were  disappointed,  of  course,  for 
they  hoped  she  might  stay  a  minute  or  two  with 
them,  but  there  was  much  satisfaction  in  the 
thought  that  a  real  one  had  left  cards.  That 
meant  a  lot,  especially  for  the  fortunate  and 
envied  Bruxton  lady  for  whom  the  cards  were  left, 
although  all  the  ladies  felt  they  shared,  to  some 
extent,  in  the  reflected  glory  of  the  event.  There 
were  a  few  more  ordinary  calls,  and  at  six  o'clock 
the  husbands  came  along,  tested  the  punch,  then 
left  immediately  for  the  bar.  The  women  hurried 
to  gather  their  baskets  and  inspect  their  cards. 

There  was  much  interest  and  excitement. 
Each  of  the  Bruxton  congressional  ladies  shufled 
rapidly  through  her  cards,  sorting  them  into  the 
groups  of  threes,  to  see  if  the  Cabinet  lady  had 
called  on  her.  Each  hoped  she  was  the  magnet 
that  drew  the  social  leader  to  the  reception,  and 
each  magnanimously  decided  not  to  be  too  haughty 
about  it,  but  to  take  a  call  from  a,  Cabinet  lady 
as  a  matter  of  course.  As  the  Bruxton  ladies 
finished  their  cards,  some  of  them  sorting  them 
out  twice  to  make  sure,  each  one  glanced  covertly 
round  to  see  who  had  secured  the  prize.  They 
were  all  disappointed  and  they  all  showed  it.  The 
cards  of  the  Cabinet  lady  were  not  in  any  basket. 
Instead,  they  were  found  on  one  of  the  small 
tables  that  had  held  the  baskets. 

It  was  a  contretemps,  to  be  sure.  The  foot 
man,  being  rather  bored  of  jumping  off  the  car 
riage  and  on  it  again  and  handing  cards  in  at 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  63 

doors,  had  been  careless  in  telling  the  doorman 
for  whom  the  cards  were  intended.  The  door 
man  didn't  understand  the  name,  and  the  footman 
was  gone  before  he  had  a  chance  to  ask.  He  was 
a  wise  doorman.  He  had  been  at  that  hotel  for 
years  and  had  seen  many  receptions.  He  knew 
how  important  this  call  was,  and  he  refused  to 
complicate  matters  by  guessing  at  the  name  of 
the  favoured  lady.  So  he  tiptoed  in,  laid  the 
cards  on  the  table  in  neutral  ground,  tiptoed  out 
again  and  said  nothing.  He  was,  as  remarked, 
a  wise  doorman. 

Wherefore,  the  question  that  agitated  the 
Bruxton  Hotel  that  night  was  this  —  which  one 
of  the  ladies  was  entitled  to  the  call?  The  mag 
nitude  and  importance  of  the  problem  was  im 
pressed  on  the  husbands.  The  women  gathered 
in  little  groups  after  dinner  and  viewed  the  mat 
ter  in  all  its  lights.  Arguments  were  privately 
brought  forward,  tending  to  show  how  the  pro 
ponent  of  the  argument  was  the  person  who 
should  have  the  cards,  and  husbands  were  ap 
pealed  to  to  discover  if  these  feminine  reasons 
might  not  be  the  real  ones.  Most  of  this  was  done 
privately  in  whispers  and  in  groups.  Some  of  the 
women  led  their  husbands  aside  to  ask  them  to  sug 
gest  a  real  reason  for  the  wife  to  advance  to  up 
hold  her  contention  that  the  cards  should  be  hers. 
Outwardly,  however,  the  women  were  very  sweet 
and  self-sacrificing.  Each  insisted  that  the  other 
should  have  the  cards,  and  there  was  a  babble  of 


'64  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

sugary,  "  Oh,  you  take  them,  my  dear,"  and  other 
honied  expressions,  that  were  belied  by  the  steely 
looks  in  the  eyes  of  the  soft  speakers. 

Each  woman  wanted  the  cards  desperately,  pas 
sionately,  but  each  woman  was  loath  to  advance 
her  claim  publicly.  The  cards  were  on  the  table, 
which  had  been  moved  out  into  the  lobby.  The 
women  eyed  them  longingly,  but  no  one  ventured  to 
pick  them  up.  Mrs.  Marsh  had  not  taken  much 
part  in  the  discussion.  She  had  asked  her  husband 
if  there  was  any  reason  why  this  particular  Cabinet 
woman  could  call  on  her,  and  whether  Marsh 
knew  the  secretary. 

"  Don't  know  him  from  a  side  of  sole  leather," 
Marsh  replied.  "  Haven't  even  seen  him  yet." 

Presently  Mrs.  Marsh  arose,  walked  over  to 
the  table  and  picked  up  the  cards.  She  turned  to 
the  astonished  women  in  the  lobby  and  said: 
"  Ladies,  I  see  no  one  cares  particularly  for  these 
cards,  and  I  would  like  them  very  much  for  sou 
venirs  of  my  first  reception  in  Washington. 
I'll  take  them,  if  you  don't  mind."  She  smiled 
radiantly  at  them.  "  Of  course  you  won't  mind, 
will  you?  "  she  asked  sweetly. 

"  Oh,  certainly  not;  you  are  quite  welcome  to 
them,"  some  of  the  women  said  acidly.  Others 
only  stared  at  her  as  if  appalled  by  her  audacity. 
Mrs.  Marsh  bowed  her  thanks  and  walked  off, 
followed  by  the  whispered  comment,  "  Well,  of 
all  the  nerve !  "  Mrs.  Marsh  affected  not  to  hear. 
She  sailed  across  the  room  and  took  the  elevator, 
clutching  the  precious  cards  to  her  bosom. 


THE  FIRST  RECEPTION  65 

Next  morning  the  ladies  had  their  final  thrill. 
The  papers  came  and  their  names  were  all  printed 
in  the  society  columns  as  giving  "  a  charming  re 
ception."  Some  of  the  names  of  those  invited 
were  printed.  It  was  observed  the  papers  said: 
"  Mrs.  John  Marsh,  wife  of  Representative 
John  Marsh,  wore  a  handsome  gown  of  brown 
velvet  with  diamonds."  That  was  the  only 
gown  described.  They  all  wondered  where 
the  society  editors  got  their  information  —  all  but 
Mrs.  Marsh.  She  didn't  wonder.  She  knew, 
for  she  had  written  notes  to  the  society  editors  in 
which  that  interesting  and  important  information 
was  communicated. 


VII 


NOTHING   FIT  TO   WEAR 

MARSH  found  his  work  on  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  Committee  in 
teresting  but  laborious.  The  com 
mittee  was  charged  with  making  the 
appropriations  for  the  Government's  share  of  the 
municipal  expenses  of  the  city  of  Washington  and 
passed  on  all  new  projects  for  improvements  in 
addition  to  legislating  for  the  city,  making  laws 
instead  of  ordinances  as  the  ordinary  city  govern 
ing  body  does.  He  soon  learned  the  govern 
ment  of  the  city,  aside  from  the  committees  in  the 
House  and  Senate,  is  vested  in  a  commission  of 
three  men,  appointed  by  the  president,  one  of 
whom  is  a  Republican,  one  a  Democrat,  and  the 
third  an  officer  of  the  engineer  corps  of  the  army, 
who  has  charge  of  all  the  engineering  projects  in 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

He  also  learned  that  as  there  is  very  little  man 
ufacturing  in  Washington  and  not  a  great  deal  of 
wholesale  trade,  the  chief  industry  of  most 
citizens  is  dealing  in  real  estate,  and  he  became 
early  aware  that  the  real-estate  dealers,  who  were 
in  cliques,  headed  by  various  banking  interests 
largely,  were  very  active  in  promoting  their  par- 

66 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR          67 

ticular  schemes.  They  all  had  property  they 
wanted  to  sell  to  the  Government  for  parks,  all 
had  property  through  which  streets  must  be 
opened,  they  said,  in  order  to  accommodate  the 
growth  of  the  city  and,  incidentally  —  although 
they  never  said  this  —  their  subdivisions.  The 
public-utilities  men  had  plans  for  extensions  of 
lines  and  renewal  and  relaxing  of  charters,  and 
he  soon  thought  that  every  citizen  of  the  district 
who  owned  any  property  or  hoped  to  own  any  or 
had  any  other  axe  to  grind,  wanted  the  District  of 
Columbia  to  legislate  for  his  individual  benefit. 

Nor  was  he  long  in  finding  out  that  a  represen 
tative  in  Congress  is,  for  the  most  part,  merely  a 
sublimated  errand  boy  for  his  constituents.  He 
had  a  large  mail,  and  it  seemed  to  him  as  if  every 
person  in  his  district,  who  by  any  possibility  could 
have  voted  for  him,  wanted  a  postmastership;  a 
rural-free-delivery  carrier  appointed,  or  had  some 
task  for  him  to  do  at  one  of  the  departments  or 
some  favour  to  be  granted  or  arranged  for.  He 
spent  a  good  deal  of  his  time  running  from  one  de 
partment  to  another,  interviewing  chiefs  of  bu 
reaus,  assistant  secretaries,  and  occasionally  talk 
ing  with  the  secretaries  themselves.  He  went  sev 
eral  times  to  the  White  House,  where  the  presi 
dent  always  received  him  cordially,  recalling  his 
first  visit  with  McManus,  and  usually  gave  him 
what  he  wanted. 

He  found  out  about  the  seed  distribution  and 
the  document  distribution,  and  early  learned  the 
efficacy  of  well-placed  seeds  and  public  documents 


68  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

as  vote-holders.  He  answered  every  letter,  ran 
every  errand,  worked  conscientiously  in  his  com 
mittee,  where  his  good  knowledge  of  the  law  was 
soon  appreciated  and  where  there  was  no  disposi 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  other  members  to  deprive 
him  of  all  the  work  he  would  do.  He  met  many 
of  the  leading  men  of  Washington,  bankers,  busi 
ness  men,  real-estate  dealers  and  professional  men, 
and  cultivated  acquaintance  in  the  House  among 
the  other  members.  No  big  question,  aside  from 
the  shaping  of  the  appropriation  bills,  was  up,  but 
he  always  voted  right  when  there  was  a  vote,  and 
he  went  in  to  see  the  speaker  often  and  grew  to 
like  that  forceful,  unconventional  person.  He 
was  a  busy  man. 

The  House  was  in  the  doldrums.  Marsh  at 
tended  the  sessions  regularly,  studied  parliamen 
tary  practice  and  precedent,  listened  to  the 
speeches  but  did  not  seek  recognition  for  himself, 
although  the  speaker  had  told  him  that  if  he  had 
a  speech  in  his  system  he  would  recognise  him  at 
some  opportune  time. 

"  Keep  quiet,"  advised  some  of  the  older  mem 
bers  with  whom  he  had  become  friendly.  "  Don't 
say  anything  until  there  is  something  worth  while 
to  say.  Don't  get  a  reputation  as  a  windjam 
mer." 

He  felt  one  or  two  speeches  boiling  in  him,  but 
after  he  had  examined  his  symptoms  carefully  he 
concluded  that  what  he  thought  was  boiling  was 
merely  simmering  and  he  refrained.  He  learned 
that  Senator  Paxton  was  right  when  he  said 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR          69 

a  new  member  of  the  House  is  of  no  conse 
quence  to  himself  or  to  any  one  else  except  as  a 
voting  unit,  and  he  cultivated  the  senator,  listened 
to  him  attentively  and  acted  on  his  advice. 

Mrs.  Marsh  continued  her  social  campaigning. 
She  made  her  congressional  and  senatorial  calls 
religiously,  clubbing  with  other  women  for  a  car 
riage  and  rushing  from  house  to  house  and  from 
apartment  to  apartment  on  the  appointed  days. 
She  was  worried  about  her  clothes.  They  were 
as  good  as  the  gowns  of  any  of  the  ladies  in  the 
Bruxton,  but  when  she  went  to  other  places  she 
felt  there  was  something  about  them  that  stamped 
them  as  unmistakably  homemade  when  viewed 
alongside  the  dresses  of  the  women  who  had  been 
in  Washington  longer  than  she  had. 

One  afternoon  she  went  to  a  reception  given 
by  the  wife  of  a  bureau  chief  in  one  of  the  de 
partments.  It  was  a  pretentious  affair.  The 
hostess  lived  in  a  big  apartment  house,  and  that 
apartment  house  had  a  broad  sweep  of  lobby 
on  the  ground  floor,  with  near-onyx  pillars  that 
looked  as  if  they  were  made  of  vari-coloured  soap 
and  much  gaudy  ornamentation.  The  reception 
was  held  in  this  lobby.  There  was  a  quantity  of 
flowers,  a  teatable,  a  punch  bowl,  and  the  servants 
were  experienced  men,  sent  by  the  city's  foremost 
caterer,  who  knew  just  how  things  should  be  done. 
Receiving  with  this  hostess  there  were  fifteen  or 
twenty  women,  wives  of  representatives,  the  wife 
of  one  of  the  senators  from  the  home  state  of 
the  hostess,  and  the  wives  of  several  important 


7o  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

bureau  heads,  together  with  the  wife  of  an  as 
sistant  secretary.  There  was  a  small  orchestra 
that  played  behind  a  bank  of  palms,  and  altogether 
it  was  a  smart  function. 

That  night  Mrs.  Marsh  spoke  about  it  to  her 
husband.  "  I  don't  see  how  she  does  it,"  Mrs. 
Marsh  said.  "  Her  husband  is  only  a  bureau 
chief  and  doesn't  get  more  than  five  thousand  dol 
lars  a  year.  It  must  cost  a  lot  to  live  in  that 
apartment  house  and  they  have  two  daughters  in 
school.  Besides,  I  hear  they  have  no  private  in 
come." 

"  It's  beyond  me,"  said  Marsh. 

Mrs.  Marsh  pursued  the  subject  further.  She 
asked  Mrs.  Brayton,  who  had  been  in  Wash 
ington  for  eight  years,  how  this  woman,  and 
many  other  women  like  her,  could  afford  such 
splurges. 

"  It's  simple  enough,"  replied  Mrs.  Brayton. 
"  She  gives  only  one  of  these  in  a  season,  or  at 
most  two.  I  don't  know  what  they  cost,  but  I 
suppose  a  couple  of  hundred  dollars  each,  maybe 
more  for  the  embroideries  of  life  are  expensive 
in  Washington.  But  if  you  could  see  how  they 
live  when  they  are  not  on  dress-parade  you 
wouldn't  ask.  All  their  comfort  and  all  their 
pleasure  is  sacrificed  for  these  exhibitions.  If  you 
were  to  go  upstairs  to  her  apartment  you  would 
find  it  is  very  small.  You  would  find  a  gas 
plate  in  the  bathroom,  where  they  get  breakfasts. 
You  would  see  the  husband  going  out  every  morn 
ing  to  bring  back  a  few  rolls  or  something  in  a 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR          71 

paper  bag.  You  would  see  that  she  wears  a 
kimono  all  day  and  has  but  two  smart  gowns,  but 
that  these  are  very  smart. 

*  You  would  see  that  she  and  her  husband 
economise  in  every  possible  way,  that  they  scrimp 
and  eat  their  meals  at  a  cheap  boarding  house, 
and  actually  turn  off  the  electric  light  and  sit  m 
the  dark  to  save  as  much  as  they  can.  When  you 
make  your  party  call  and  go  up  to  her  apartment 
you  will  find  everything  has  been  tucked  away, 
hidden  behind  screens,  to  give  an  idea  of 
spaciousness  that  doesn't  exist.  You  will  see  the 
beds  are  sofa  beds  and  look  like  lounges  on  these 
occasions,  and  you  will  observe  that  the  husband's 
clothes  are  shiny  and  that  he  is  always  in  the 
background.  The  hardships  they  endure  to  make 
these  displays  are  positively  sickening;  but  she  is 
socially  ambitious  — •  a  climber  —  and  she  will 
stop  at  nothing  in  the  way  of  hidden  discomforts 
for  herself  and  her  husband  in  order  that  she  may 
appear  radiant  and  successful  on  the  days  she 
makes  her  splurge.  They  will  eat  dry  rolls  for 
breakfast  for  a  week  so  that  she  may  have  a  car 
riage  on  the  day  she  goes  out  to  peddle  her  paste 
boards." 

"Peddle  her  pasteboards?"  repeated  Mrs. 
Marsh. 

"  Yes,  drive  about  and  leave  her  cards  on  peo 
ple  she  has  never  seen  and  who  have  never  seen 
her,  but  whom  she  hopes  to  see,  or  even  have  at 
one  of  her  affairs  if  assiduous  cultivation  will 
bring  it  about." 


72  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Are  there  many  women  like  that  in  Washing 
ton?" 

"  Dozens,  my  dear;  scores  of  them.  And  do 
not  think  they  are  all  in  the  official  class  either. 
Some  of  the  people  who  live  in  the  biggest  houses 
and  have  the  most  exclusive  connections  are  so 
hard  up,  in  reality,  they  resort  to  the  pettiest 
economies  and  use  all  sorts  of  subterfuges  to  get 
money  for  their  shows.  If  you  could  look  over 
the  books  of  the  tradesmen  of  this  city  you  would 
see  what  I  mean." 

A  few  days  later  Mrs.  Paxton,  wife  of  the 
senator,  called  on  Mrs.  Marsh. 

"  Let  me  go  up  to  your  rooms,"  she  said.  "  I 
want  to  have  a  quiet  chat  with  you." 

Mrs.  Paxton  was  a  gracious,  cultured,  stylish 
woman  of  fifty-five.  She  gowned  herself  with 
much  distinction.  She  had  been  in  Washington 
for  many  years  and  was  a  leader  in  the  most 
exclusive  official  set,  besides  being  a  guest  at  the 
biggest  houses  of  resident  and  ambassadorial 
society. 

She  sat  down  in  the  room  the  Marshes  used  as 
a  parlour.  It  was  a  room  of  good  size  with  an 
alcove.  There  was  a  bath  adjoining  and  another 
bedroom.  Mrs.  Paxton  removed  her  gloves  and 
settled  herself  comfortably  in  her  chair. 

'  You  are  planning  to  have  a  house  of  your 
own  one  of  these  days,  I  suppose?  "  she  remarked. 

"  Oh,  yes,"  Mrs.  Marsh  replied.  "  We  came 
here  temporarily,  so  that  we  could  make  sure  be 
fore  we  took  a  lease." 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR          73 

Mrs.  Paxton  smiled  innocently.  She  knew  why 
the  Marshes  were  at  the  Bruxton. 

"  Still,"  continued  Mrs.  Paxton,  "  one  can  be 
comfortable  in  a  hotel.  You  are  quite  cosy  and 
homelike  here." 

Mrs.  Marsh  had  rearranged  the  furniture, 
added  a  few  of  her  own  possessions  and  a  picture 
or  two.  The  rooms  were  attractive. 

"  But,"  continued  Mrs.  Paxton  vivaciously,  "  I 
didn't  come  here  to  talk  about  houses  or  hotels. 
I  have  something  far  more  important  than  that 
to  say.  You  know  the  senator  and  I  are  inter 
ested  in  you  and  your  husband?  " 

Mrs.  Marsh  murmured  her  gratitude. 

"  Well,  I  am  giving  a  reception  at  my  home 
three  weeks  from  Thursday  and  I  want  you  to 
come  and  help  me  receive." 

Mrs.  Marsh's  heart  beat  rapidly.  To  help  the 
distinguished  and  fashionable  Mrs.  Paxton  re» 
ceive  was  a  big  step  forward! 

"  Of  course,"  continued  Mrs.  Paxton,  "  it  is  a 
state  day  reception,  you  know,  when  Mrs.  Rogers, 
the  wife  of  my  husband's  colleague,  and  myself 
receive  all  the  people  from  our  state  who  care  to 
come,  and  the  other  congressional  ladies  from  the 
state  will  be  in  the  line  too." 

Mrs.  Marsh  tried  not  to  show  her  disappoint 
ment  in  her  face,  but  didn't  succeed  very  well. 
The  astute  Mrs.  Paxton  noticed  her  expression  of 
dismay. 

"  It  is  one  of  those  political-social  functions  we 
have  to  give  every  year.  I  assure  you  you  have 


74  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

no  idea  how  much  we  congressional  wives  can  do 
socially  to  aid  our  husbands.  And  I  know  you 
will  be  of  very  great  assistance  to  Mr.  Marsh  and 
that  you  will  be  a  great  success  socially.  Later 
in  the  season  I  shall  be  giving  more  exclusive  af 
fairs,  and  I  shall  count  on  you  to  assist  me." 

Mrs.  Marsh  became  radiant  again.  She 
promised  to  come  to  the  state  reception,  and  they 
chatted  on  various  topics  for  a  few  minutes. 
Then  Mrs.  Marsh  plunged  into  what  was  dear 
est  to  her  heart.  "  By  the  way,  Mrs.  Paxton," 
she  said,  "  can  you  direct  me  to  a  good  dressmaker 
here?" 

Mrs.  Paxton  looked  quickly  at  her.  "  Why," 
she  replied,  "  I  know  several.  What  sort  of  a 
gown  are  you  planning?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  exactly.  I  need  several. 
You  see  — "  She  hesitated. 

"  Yes  1  "  Mrs.   Paxton  was  very  sympathetic. 

"  Oh,"  confessed  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  the  wardrobe 
I  brought  with  me  doesn't  seem  to  be  right.  My 
dresses  are  of  good  material  and  were  made  by 
our  best  woman,  but  they  lack  something.  They 
are  too  elaborate.  The  dressmaker  put  too  many 
trimmings  on  them.  They  haven't  that  distinc 
tion  I  notice  here.  They  look  homemade,  and  I 
hate  them,"  she  concluded  vehemently. 

Mrs.  Paxton  smiled  indulgently.  "  I  know  ex 
actly  how  you  feel,"  she  said  kindly.  "  I  know 
how  you  had  your  gowns  made  from  the  very 
latest  fashion  books  from  Paris  and  New  York,  but 
I  know  also  the  ways  of  the  country  dressmaker 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR  75 

and  what  she  does  with  the  book  design.  For 
political  reasons  I  still  have  a  few  gowns  made 
out  home,  but  "  —  she  shuddered  —  "I  never 
wear  them  here.  Maybe  I  can  help  you." 

She  talked  so  wisely  and  so  frankly  Mrs. 
Marsh  was  completely  won  to  her,  and  went  to 
her  closets  and  brought  out  her  entire  wardrobe. 
The  elder  woman  discussed  the  dresses  with  her, 
pointing  out  their  deficiencies,  suggesting  certain 
alterations,  all  in  the  line  of  simplicity,  and  the 
elimination  of  the  choicest  decorative  creations  of 
the  home  artiste,  advising  new  gowns  of  certain 
kinds,  speaking  illuminatingly  of  the  trend  of  the 
styles,  of  what  the  best-dressed  women  were  wear 
ing,  and  discussing  the  art  of  dress  in  all  its  phases 
and  particularly  in  its  Washington  phase. 

They  planned  some  new  gowns,  three  in  num 
ber,  for  a  beginning.  There  was  to  be  a  street 
dress,  tailored,  and  a  tailored  calling  dress,  a  little 
more  elaborate  that  the  plain  street  one.  Then 
there  was  to  be  a  gown  suitable  for  the  afternoon, 
with  a  removable  guimpe,  so  that  it  could  be  made 
into  an  evening  gown  by  a  feminine  miracle  which 
apparently  they  both  understood. 

Mrs.  Paxton  introduced  the  subject  of  price  dis 
creetly.  She  told  Mrs.  Marsh  the  street  gown 
would  cost  her  about  eighty-five  dollars  at  a  good 
tailor's,  the  more  elaborate  tailored  gown  about 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars,  and  the  other 
gown  a  hundred  dollars.  Three  hundred  dol 
lars  would  start  Mrs.  Marsh  on  the  road  to  cor 
rect  gowning,  and  she  gave  her  the  names  of  a 


7.8  [THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

tailor  an'd  a  .dressmaker  who,  on  Mrs.  Paxton's 
introduction,  would  give  her  good  service.  Mrs. 
Marsh  absorbed  the  information.  She  was  eager 
and  enthusiastic,  for  her  wardrobe,  although  it 
seemed  regal  when  she  left  Morganville,  was  far 
from  meeting  her  already  educated  Washington 
needs. 

When  Marsh  came  home  to  dinner  she  intro 
duced  the  subject  of  new  gowns  diplomatically. 

'  Jim,"  she  began,  "  I  think  you  should  have  a 
new  dress-suit." 

"  Pshaw !  "  said  Marsh,  "  I  don't  need  one. 
The  one  IVe  got  is  good  enough.  I've  only  had 
it  four  years." 

"  Well,"  continued  Mrs.  Marsh  decisively,  "  I 
think  you  should  have  a  new  one.  I  notice  the 
best-dressed  men  wear  evening  clothes  that  fit  bet 
ter  than  yours  do,  and  have  a  newer  cut  and  seem 
much  handsomer.  You  know,  Jim,"  she  said, 
coming  over  to  him  and  putting  an  arm  about 
his  neck,  "  I  don't  want  to  see  my  big,  handsome 
husband  wearing  evening  clothes  that  look  shabby 
and  out-of-date  beside  those  of  other  men." 

"  Oh,  well,"  answered  Marsh,  "  I  guess  these 
will  do  for  a  while  yet.  Besides,  Molly,  if  I  wait 
until  I  get  home  I  can  get  a  new  suit  forty  or  fifty 
dollars  cheaper  than  I  can  get  one  here  or  in  New 
York." 

"  That's  just  it!  If  you  go  -out  to  that  country 
tailor  you'll  get  another  of  those  horrible,  ill-fit 
ting  affairs." 

"  Country  tailor !  "  exclaimed  Marsh. 


NOTHING  FIT  TO  WEAR          77 

Bannard  has  been  making  my  clothes  for 
years !  Since  when  did  you  get  so  uppish  about 
country  tailors?  That  dressmaker  of  yours  cer 
tainly  turned  you  out  in  good  style." 

"  She  didn't,  Jim,"  protested  Mrs.  Marsh. 
"  I  haven't  a  single  dress  I  ought  to  wear. 
They  don't  fit  and  they  are  all  fussed  up  with  con 
coctions  she  invented  out  of  her  own  head,  I  guess, 
that  I  once  thought  were  fine,  and  that  I  now  know 
are  merely  things  to  laugh  at.  My  dresses  all 
look  homemade.  There  isn't  a  bit  of  style  or  dis 
tinction  about  them.  I've  got  to  have  some  new 
one,  and  most  of  the  old  ones  must  be  made  over." 

Marsh  looked  grave.  "  Molly,"  he  said,  "  I 
wouldn't  go  in  for  much  of  that  if  I  were  you. 
It  is  costing  a  heap  to  live  here.  You  know  we 
pay  two  hundred  dollars  a  month  for  these  rooms 
and  our  food,  and  that  doesn't  leave  much  out  of 
what  I  get  for  other  things.  It's  almost  half  of 
my  salary.  Besides  I've  got  to  run  again  this 
fall,  and  I  need  all  I  can  get  for  that,  and  there's 
not  much  coming  in  from  the  office.  Can't  you 
wait?" 

"  No,  I  can't,"  pouted  Mrs.  Marsh.  "  Mrs. 
Senator  Paxton  was  here  to-day,  and  she  very 
kindly  pointed  out  to  me  what  I  should  do  to  be 
well-dressed." 

"  Darn  Mrs.  Senator  Paxton ! "  exclaimed 
Marsh. 

"  She  was  doing  it  for  our  good,  yours  as  well 
as  mine,"  protested  Mrs.  Marsh.  "  I  have  my 
social  way  to  make  here  and  I  want  to  keep  you 


78  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

in  your  career,  and  the  first  thing  I  must  do  is  to 
be  well-dressed.  I've  simply  got  to  have  some 
new  clothes." 

"  How  much  will  it  cost?  " 

"  I  don't  know  yet.  Mrs.  Paxton  gave  me  the 
names  of  a  tailor  and  a-  dressmaker,  and  I'm  go 
ing  to  see  them  to-morrow." 

*  Marsh  was  silent  for  a  few  moments.  "  Well, 
be  as  easy  on  me  as  you  can,  Molly,"  he  finally 
said. 

A  few  days  later  Marsh  came  home  in  high 
spirits.  "  Don't  worry  about  those  clothes  of 
yours,  Molly,"  he  said.  "  I'm  going  to  make 
some  money  outside  of  my  salary." 

She  rushed  over  to  him ;  put  her  arms  about  him 
and  kissed  him.  "  Jim,"  she  gurgled,  "  you  are  a 
dear!  How  are  you  going  to  make  it?" 

"  One  of  the  men  I  know  up  at  the  House  gave 
me  a  tip  on  the  stock  market.  I've  bought  three 
hundred  shares  and  margined  it  five  points.  It 
took  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  about  all  I  had  in 
the  bank,  but  I'll  have  a  lot  in  a  few  days.  It's 
going  up  sure." 

Mrs.  Marsh  didn't  know  what  he  was  talking 
about,  but  she  accepted  his  assurances  that  he 
would  make  some  money.  The  next  day  she  or 
dered  two  suits  of  Mrs.  Paxton's  tailor  and  a 
gown  from  the  fashionable  dressmaker. 


yin 

THE  OBLIGING   BANKER 

MARSH  watched  his  stock  speculation 
carefully.  He  had  had  some  lit 
tle  experience  in  buying  stocks, 
generally  with  negligible  results,  and 
had  dabbled  in  wheat  and  pork  through 
the  local  broker's  office  in  Morganville.  Like 
nearly  everybody  else  in  his  position  he  had 
invested  a  few  times  in  mining  stocks,  but  had 
made  no  money.  The  man  who  gave  him  the 
information,  Charles  H.  Rambo,  was  a  repre 
sentative  from  a  Middle-Western  state,  who  had 
been  in  Congress  for  twelve  years — six  terms. 
He  lived  comfortably  on  a  good  street  in  the 
northwestern  section  of  the  city,  was  a  member 
of  an  important  committee,  and  though  he  was  in 
no  sense  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  majority,  he  was 
in  the  close-up  second  flight,  had  the  confidence  of 
the  real  leaders  and  was  generally  aware  of  pol 
icies  and  plans  before  the  rank  and  file.  He  was 
a  sort  of  outer  guard,  not  especially  in  the  circle, 
but  still  of  it  enough  to  know  what  was  going  on 
and  to  be  useful  in  many  ways.  He  was  thrifty, 
also,  and  a  wolf  for  money. 

79 


8o  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

The  stock  moved  by  fractions  for  a  few  days, 
neither  gaining  nor  losing  much.  Then  it  began 
to  climb  £bout  a  point  a  day.  At  the  end  of  a 
week  Marsh  had  a  profit  of  a  clear  four  points. 
He  met  Rambo. 

"  Did  you  get  any  of  that  Stuff  I  told  you 
about?  "  asked  Rambo. 

"  Three  hundred  shares." 

"Sell  it,"   said  Rambo. 

"  But,"  protested  Marsh,  "  it's  doing  well. 
I've  got  four  points  in  already." 

"  Sell  it,"  repeated  Rambo.  "  This  isn't  the 
only  stock  in  the  world,  and  you're  twelve  hun 
dred  dollars  to  the  good.  The  Stock  Exchange 
isn't  going  to  close  up,  you  know.  There'll  be 
other  stocks." 

"  Don't  you  think  it  will  go  any  higher?  " 

"  Marsh,"  said  Rambo,  "  let  me  tell  you  some 
thing.  Washington  is  all  cluttered  up  with  men 
who  can  tell  you  when  to  buy  stocks,  but  there  are 
mighty  few  of  them  who  can  and  will  tell  you 
when  to  sell.  The  person  who  is  of  real  value  to 
a  man  who  is  speculating  in  stocks  isn't  the  one 
who  tells  you  when  to  buy.  The  real  asset  is  the 
man  who  knows  when  to  sell.  That's  the  chap 
you  want  to  tie  to.  And  let  me  give  you  another 
tip  while  I'm  on  the  subject.  Never  buy  any 
thing  you  can't  sell.  I  don't  care  if  it  is  a  stock 
in  the  most  profitable  concern  going,  don't  buy  it 
unless  you  know  exactly  where  you  can  sell  it  when 
you  want  to.  Stick  to  the  listed  stuff.  There's 
always  a  market  for  that,  and  there  may  come 


(THE  OBLIGING  BANKER          81 

times  when  you  want  quick  money.  Also,  sell 
that  three  hundred  shares  of  yours." 

He  walked  away.  Marsh  sold  his  stock,  took 
his  profit,  and  for  two  days  suffered  agonies  of  re 
morse  over  the  lost  opportunities,  for  the  stock 
went  up  three  more  points.  Then  one  day  the 
whole  market  broke  and  his  stock  began  sliding 
down  rapidly.  It  wasn't  long  until  it  was  a  point 
below  where  he  had  bought  it. 

"What  did  I  tell  you?"  asked  Rambo,  who 
met  him  in  the  cloakroom.  "  You  remember 
what  I  said.  The  chap  to  tie  to  in  stock  specula 
tion  is  the  chap  who  knows  when  to  sell.  Any 
idiot  who  has  any  knowledge  of  conditions  knows 
when  to  buy." 

Meantime  cards  for  one  of  the  big  White 
House  receptions  had  come  in,  and  Mrs.  Marsh 
spent  feverish  days  with  her  dressmaker  and  fev 
erish  nights  thinking  about  her  gown,  and  was  on 
the  verge  of  a  collapse,  because  of  the  delays  and 
bother  she  had  with  the  overtaxed  modiste,  who 
was  trying  to  finish  her  gown  and  the  gowns  for 
twenty  other  equally  insistent  ladies,  satisfy  them 
all,  and  maintain  her  mental  balance  during  the 
process. 

The  gown  came  home  on  the  afternoon  before 
the  reception.  It  was  a  success.  Marsh's  eyes 
brightened  when  he  had  finished  hooking  it,  and 
Mrs.  Marsh  stood  before  him,  radiant  and  for 
the  first  time  in  her  life  correctly  and  stylishly  at 
tired  in  every  detail.  The  process  of  providing 
for  these  details  had  taken  a  considerable  amount 


82  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

more  than  the  hundred  dollars  the  gown  was  to 
cost,  which,  it  was  discovered  later,  was  increased 
visibly  by  the  subtle  addition  of  "  extras  "  in  the 
bill.  But  Marsh  thought  it  money  well  spent 
when  he  saw  the  completed  result,  and  he  was 
proud  of  his  wife  as  he  escorted  her  downstairs 
and  to  the  carriage  he  and  another  representative 
living  in  the  house  had  hired  for  the  occasion. 

This  was  before  the  addition  of  the  wings  to 
the  White  House  under  the  direction  of  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt,  and  the  Marsh  carriage  joined 
the  long  string  of  vehicles  that  was  proceeding 
slowly  up  to  the  front  portico.  It  took  half  an 
hour  to  get  to  the  door,  and  inside  the  place  was 
jammed.  The  red-coated  Marine  Band  was 
crashing  out  lively  music,  the  halls  and  stairway 
were  abloom  with  flowers,  the  big  East  Room  was 
so  crowded  it  was  impossible  to  move  about.  Pres 
ently  the  presidential  party  came  down  the  stair 
way  and  the  reception  began.  Mrs.  Marsh  had 
been  jostled  until  she  felt  ill.  A  clumsy  man 
had  stepped  on  her  dress.  Her  lace  caught  in 
the  sword  of  an  officer  and  she  was  sure  it  was 
torn.  She  had  seen  only  a  few  people  she  knew, 
but  she  clung  to  her  husband's  arm  and  beamed,  for 
she  was  at  %  White  House  reception,  an  invited 
guest,  and  it  would  look  fine  in  the  Morganville 
paper  and  cause  much  comment  among  the  set  on 
the  hill  where  she  had  shone  in  former  days. 

They  moved  slowly  along  in  the  line.  It  took 
half  an  hour  to  get  to  the  president,  who  was 
standing  at  the  head  of  the  reception  group  shak- 


THE  OBLIGING  BANKER  83 

ing  hands  rapidly,  smiling  like  an  automaton  and 
telling  each  one  how  happy  he  was  to  have  the 
honour.  His  lips  smiled,  but  there  was  a  very 
tired  look  in  his  eyes.  Mrs.  Marsh  noticed 
he  was  quick  to  grasp  the  hand  of  those  presented, 
and  quick  to  let  go,  before  any  muscular  patriot 
had  a  chance  to  grip  him,  and  she  was  quite  flus 
tered  when  the  aide  who  was  making  the  pre 
sentations  leaned  over  and  said  sharply: 
"  Names,  please." 

"  Representative  and  Mrs.  James  Marsh,"  said 
the  aide,  in  an  automatic,  staccato  fashion.  The 
president  bowed  to  Mrs.  Marsh,  shook  hands 
with  her,  said  something  about  being  pleased  to 
greet  her,  turned  to  grasp  Marsh's  hand  and 
recognised  him.  "  Glad  to  see  you,  Marsh,"  he 
said.  "  Hope  you  are  enjoying  yourself." 

Marsh  lingered  to  talk,  but  he  felt  an  insistent, 
steady  pressure  on  his  back.  Before  he  knew 
what  had  happened  he  was  far  down  the  line  with 
Mrs.  Marsh,  bowing  to  the  other  men  and  women 
who  were  of  the  reception  party,  while  the  aides 
were  shoving  others  past  the  president  as  they 
had  shoved  him. 

The  Marshes  tried  to  move  about  the  room, 
but  could  not  because  of  the  crowd.  They  noticed 
women  there  in  the  most  elaborate  gowns,  spark 
ling  in  their  diamonds  and  they  noticed  others, 
evidently  tourists,  who  wore  street  suits  and  shirt 
waists.  There  were  men  in  full  evening  dress 
with  white  ties  and  gloves  and  waistcoats,  and 
men  in  dinner  jackets  and  black  ties.  The  army 


84  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

and  navy  officers  wore  their  dress  uniforms,  the 
diplomats  the  uniforms  of  their  ranks,  and  alto 
gether  it  was  a  rather  enlivening  spectacle;  but 
the  crowd  was  so  dense,  and  the  room  was  so 
warm  and  the  mingled  odour  of  perfumes,  flowers 
and  humanity  so  heavy  that  the  Marshes  were 
glad  to  get  away,  especially  after  they  discovered 
how  hopeless  it  was  to  get  near  the  refreshments, 
which  were  served  from  a  buffet  in  an  adjoining 
room.  Next  day  the  papers,  in  their  descrip 
tions  of  the  gowns  the  ladies  wore,  carried  a  line 
about  Mrs.  Marsh's  gown.  She  had  sent  that  de 
tail  to  the  society  editors  herself. 

Marsh  worked  hard  in  his  committee  and  at 
tended  the  sessions  of  the  House  regularly. 
Several  important  Philippine  questions  were  up, 
and  there  were  two  or  three  occasions  when  he 
thought  he  would  ask  the  speaker  for  recognition 
for  an  hour,  in  order  to  make  a  set  speech  and 
show  his  colleagues  what  manner  of  an  orator  he 
was.  He  had  some  pronounced  views  on  the  sub 
ject  of  imperialism,  well  within  scope  of  party 
policy,  and  he  felt  he  could  do  a  good  stroke  for 
himself  by  talking.  He  met  Senator  Paxton  in 
the  Capitol  and  told  him  what  he  had  in  mind. 

"  Marsh,"  said  Paxton,  "  I  wouldn't  do  it  if 
I  were  you — not  yet.  There's  nothing  in  this  im 
perialism  business  that  needs  any  comment  from 
you  at  this  time.  Don't  be  in  such  a  rush  to  ex 
hibit  your  oratory.  Keep  quiet,  if  you  can,  and 
wait  for  a  real  opportunity.  There  are  not  forty 
votes  changed  in  a  year  by  speechmaking  in  the 


85; 

House  or  in  the  Senate,  for  the  speeches  you  hear 
are  only  the  embroidery,  the  ornamentation  of  the 
serious  work  of  Congress.  We  do  our  legislat 
ing  in  committees,  as  you  have  discovered,  and 
bring  the  product  of  our  deliberations  out  for  the 
House  to  look  over.  The  changes  that  are  made 
then  are  made  because  of  suggestions  in  debate 
and  because  of  personal  influence:  You  could 
talk  a  week  in  favour  of  a  committee  bill  or  against 
it,  and  when  the  line-up  came  you  would  find  it 
would  be  partisan,  almost  exclusively,  and  as  pre 
viously  arranged  and  planned  for. 

"  Oratory  is  a  lost  art,  they  say,  but  I  don't 
think  that  is  true.  We  have  plenty  of  good  ora 
tors,  but  we  don't  need  them  the  way  we  used  to. 
We  have  other  and  wider  and  better  methods  for 
obtaining  publicity.  To  be  sure  we  use  speakers 
in  our  campaigns,  but  that  is  merely  for  the  pur 
pose  of  publicity  and  to  keep  the  candidates  ad 
vertised,  which  is  just  as  necessary  as  it  is  to  keep 
a  brand  of  soap  advertised.  Political  oratory  has 
little  effect  on  changing  votes,  for  all  the  orator 
can  say  on  any  given  subject  has  probably  already 
been  said  in  the  newspapers  and  elsewhere,  and 
most  of  the  hearers  know  as  much,  if  not  more, 
than  the  speaker.  In  the  next  ten  years  you  will 
find  the  people  will  refuse  to  hear  any  but  the  big 
gest  men  in  the  party,  or  in  any  party,  and  that 
they  will  go  to  hear  the  biggest  ones  only  on  the 
basis  of  a  show,  and  not  because  they  want  to 
hear  issues  discussed.  So  far  as  this  Congress 
is  concerned,  or  any  .Congress,  it  is  the  personal 


86  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

equation  that  counts,  the  knowledge  of  men,  the 
give-and-take  method,  the  power  of  organisation, 
the  desire  of  every  individual  to  remain  in  office. 
These  are  the  things  that  direct  legislation,  not 
oratory.  You  will  find  many  men  in  this  House 
and  in  the  Senate  who  haven't  the  range  of  ex 
pression  of  a  well-defined  clam,  or  a  much  greater 
variety  of  oratorical  ideas  than  an  educated  hen, 
who  get  what  they  go  after;  while  if  you  observe 
the  great  orators,  you  will  discover  full  galleries, 
filled  with  people  who  want  to  see  the  show,  and 
a  very  bored  congregation  of  senators  or  repre 
sentatives,  who  are  wondering  how  soon  the  ora 
tor  will  get  through  so  that  they  may  go  on  with 
the  work  they  have  in  hand,  and  secure  the  various 
things  they  want  to  help  keep  them  in  office. 

"  I'm  not  saying  it  isn't  a  good  thing  to  shoot 
off  a  few  fireworks  now  and  then,  but  I  am  saying 
that  the  great  orators  of  this  day  are  not  half  so 
potent  legislatively  as  the  men  who  say  compara 
tively  nothing,  but  who  move  about  among  their 
fellows,  understand  what  they  want,  and  go  after 
it  intelligently,  on  the  basis  of  '  you  help  me  to 
this  and  I'll  help  you  to  that.'  " 

Senator  Paxton  lighted  a  cigar,  gave  one  to 
Marsh,  patted  him  on  the  shoulder  in  a  fatherly 
manner  and  moved  away.  Marsh  looked  after 
him.  So  far  as  he  knew  Paxton  had  not  made  a 
set  speech  in  several  sessions,  although  he  ap 
peared  frequently  in  debate,  speaking  briefly  from 
time  to  time  and  always  understanding  his  sub 
ject;  and  yet  Paxton  had  the  reputation  of  being 


THE  OBLIGING  BANKER          87 

able  to  get  more  for  his  state,  and  incidentally 
for  himself,  than  any  Western  senator,  and  he 
had  more  power.  Marsh  was  thinking  of  what 
Paxton  had  said  when  Rambo  came  up. 

"  Hello,  Marsh,"  said  Rambo,  who  was  get 
ting  very  friendly  with  Marsh.  "  How  are  they 
coming?  " 

"  So,  so,"  answered  Marsh  absently.  He  won 
dered  why  Rambo  was  making  himself  so  agree 
able. 

"Made  any  money  lately?" 

"  Not  much." 

"  Well,"  said  Rambo  confidentially,  "  I've  had 
a  tip  that  will  enable  us  to  make  a  few  dollars. 
Some  friends  of  mine  were  down  from  New  York 
yesterday,  and  they  told  me  I  wouldn't  miss  much 
if  I  bought  a  few  shares  of  Union." 

"Union  what?" 

"  Union  Consolidated.  I've  got  some  folks 
over  there  who  know  the  big  men  in  that  outfit 
and  they  say  the  stock  is  due  for  a  rise.  Better 
get  yourself  a  little." 

Rambo  walked  away.  Marsh  thought  it  over. 
Rambo  had  given  him  good  information  before. 
He  had  about  six  hundred  dollars  left  of  his 
twelve  hundred  winnings  on  his  previous  deal, 
and  had  two  thousand  more  in  hand,  which  was 
about  all  the  money  he  did  have.  He  decided  the 
tip  was  a  good  one,  and  he  went  down  to  a 
broker's  office  to  see  about  Union  Consolidated. 
He  found  that  stock  selling  at  seventy-seven  dol 
lars  a  share,  where  it  had  lingered  for  weeks. 


88  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

He  bought  five  hundred  shares  on  a  five-point 
margin,  gave  the  cashier  his  check  for  $2,500  and 
commission  and  went  out  and  took  a  walk. 

Union  Consolidated  moved  up  fractionally  and 
down  fractionally  for  a  week.  Marsh  was  get 
ting  anxious.  He  knew  his  interest  charge  was 
large  and  he  was  eager  to  get  some  action.  One 
morning,  about  ten  days  after  the  speculation 
began,  he  called  the  broker's  office  on  the  tele 
phone. 

"  How's  the  market?  "  he  asked. 

"  Pretty  weak,"  said  the  clerk  who  answered. 

"  What's  Union  Consolidated  doing?  " 

"  It's  off  a  point  and  a  half." 

Marsh  was  cold  with  fear.  He  called  again 
in  half  an  hour  and  found  there  was  a  better  tone, 
and  that  Union  had  recovered  half  a  point. 
Things  were  feverish  still,  the  clerk  said. 

Next  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  when  the  market 
opened,  Marsh  was  on  the  telephone.  Union 
opened  at  seventy-five  and  five-eighths,  stayed  there 
and  dropped  by  eighths  to  seventy-five  on  heavy 
sales.  Marsh  was  nervous.  He  went  into  a 
committee  meeting,  but  could  give  little  attention 
to  his  work.  He  had  only  three  points  margin 
left  and  he  had  no  more  money.  At  noon  he 
found  they  were  evidently  unloading  Union  Con 
solidated,  for  it  had  dropped  another  point.  He 
was  tempted  to  close  and  take  his  loss,  but  hung 
on.  He  searched  wildly  for  Rambo,  but  couldn't 
find  him. 

Just  before  three  o'clock  he  was  called  to  the 


THE  OBLIGING  BANKER          89 

telephone.  His  broker  was  talking:  "  I'm 
sorry,  Mr.  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  but  I  shall  have 
to  call  on  you  for  some  money.  Union  has 
dropped  to  seventy-four,  and  I  must  ask  you  for 
more  margins  the  first  thing  in  the  morning. 
Otherwise  I  have  no  option  but  to  sell  it,  if  it  gets 
down  lower,  to  protect  myself." 

"  How  much  do  you  want?  "  Marsh  quavered 
over  the  telephone. 

"  Oh,  another  twenty-five  hundred  will  do.  I 
think  the  worst  of  this  is  over  and  that  the  market 
will  strengthen  to-morrow,  for  there  are  evidences 
of  support."  The  broker  talked  like  a  Wall 
Street  letter.  Marsh  heard  him  dimly,  like  a  man 
speaking  afar  off.  He  was  thinking,  wondering 
desperately  where  he  would  get  twenty-five  hun 
dred  dollars.  He  felt  he  must  protect  his  original 
investment,  for  it  would  cripple  him  to  lose  it, 
cripple  him  seriously. 

That  night  he  called  on  Rambo  at  Rambo's 
house.  "  Rambo,"  he  said,  "  that  Union  is 
pretty  weak." 

"  So  it  is,"  Rambo  replied  unconcernedly. 

u  I've  got  to  margin  mine  up  to-morrow." 

Rambo  became  interested. 

"  How  much  have  you  got?  " 

"  Five  hundred  shares  of  seventy-seven  on  a 
five-point  margin." 

"  My  dear  Marsh,"  said  Rambo,"  why  specu 
late  on  so  small  a  margin?  I  always  protect  my 
stuff  twenty  points,  and  then  I'm  reasonably  safe 
any  way  she  breaks." 


90  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Marsh  made  a  clean  breast  of  it.  "  I  only  had 
enough  to  margin  it  five  points,"  he  confessed. 

Rambo  looked  at  him  keenly.  "  Then  you're 
broke?  "  he  asked. 

"  Practically." 

"And  they  want  more  margins?" 

"  Yes." 

"How  much?" 

"  Five  points  more." 

"  And  you  want  to  get  the  money?  " 

"  That's  it." 

Rambo  walked  around  the  room.  "  I'm  sorry, 
Marsh,"  he  said,  "  but  I  haven't  that  amount  free 
just  now.  However,  I  know  a  very  accommodat 
ing  fellow  that  will  let  you  have  it  on  my  say-so. 
Come  around  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  and 
we'll  go  and  see  him." 

Marsh  slept  badly  that  night.  He  was  at 
Rambo's  house  promptly  at  nine  and  they  went 
together  to  a  bank,  where  Rambo  introduced  him 
to  a  man  who  sat  in  an  inner  office,  a  clean-cut, 
rather  hard-faced  man,  smooth-shaven,  and  quick, 
decided  and  very  businesslike  in  his  actions  and 
conversation. 

"  I  am  pleased  to  meet  you,"  said  the  banker. 
"  We  shall  be  glad  to  do  anything  in  our  power 
for  you." 

Then  he  paused,  waiting  composedly  to  hear 
what  the  proposition  was. 

"  Mr.  Marsh  wants  to  borrow  a  little  money," 
said  Rambo. 

"  We   are   always   glad  to   accommodate   any 


THE  OBLIGING  BANKER  91 

friend  of  yours,  Mr.  Rambo.  How  much  will 
you  need,  Mr.  Marsh?" 

"  Three  thousand  dollars." 

"Any  collateral?" 

"  I'll  indorse  for  him,"  said  Rambo. 

The  banker  sat  down  at  his  desk  and  filled  in  a 
printed  note  form.  As  Marsh  signed  it  he  no 
ticed  it  was  payable  "  On  demand." 

"  It  isn't  for  any  stipulated  term,  I  see,"  he 
said  to  the  banker. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  replied  suavely.  "  We  generally 
make  these  notes  on  demand,  so  they  can  be  paid 
at  any  time.  The  interest  will  be  five  per  cent. 
Will  you  kindly  indorse,  Mr.  Rambo?  Thank 
you.  The  money  will  be  here  immediately." 
He  pushed  a  button,  wrote  his  initials  on  the  note, 
handed  it  to  a  clerk  who  came  in,  talked  about  the 
fine  weather  for  a  moment,  and  when  the  clerk 
returned  handed  Marsh  six  five-hundred-dollar 
bills. 

"  Glad  to  have  met  you,  Mr.  Marsh,"  said  the 
banker.  "  I  shall  hope  to  see  you  often.  Do  not 
hesitate  to  call  on  us  at  any  time.  Good-morn- 
ing." 

"  That  was  easy  enough,"  commented  Rambo. 
"  Excuse  me  now,  I've  got  to  run  over  to  the  Land 
Office." 

Marsh  paid  twenty-five  hundred  .dollars  in  at 
the  broker's  office,  received  a  statement  of  his  ac 
count  and  went  slowly  up  to  the  Capitol.  He  was 
uneasy,  but  he  consoled  himself  with  the  thought 
that  it  was  purely  a  business  transaction. 


IX 


SQUEEZED 

UNION  Consolidated  sagged  off  a  point 
more,  then  a  point  and  a  half,  recov 
ered,  dropped  back,  and  finally  hung 
round  seventy-two  for  two  or  three 
weeks.     Marsh    saw    Rambo    occasionally    and 
Rambo  said  to  keep  the  stock,  as  it  was  good  and 
would  surely  go  up  as  he  had  said  it  would. 

Work  in  the  District  of  Columbia  Committee 
was  getting  toward  completion.  The  committee 
was  threshing  out  the  various  municipal  projects, 
favoured  by  the  commissioners,  and  some  put  for 
ward  by  private  individuals  who  owned  land  here 
and  there  on  the  outskirts.  One  project  was  in 
sistently  favoured  by  a  certain  clique  of  Washing- 
tonians;  although  the  principals  did  not  appear, 
but  were  represented  by  suave  and  persistent 
agents,  who  were  on  easy  terms  of  familiarity 
with  most  of  the  older  members  of  the  committee. 
It  provided  for  the  location  of  a  park  in  a  section 
of  the  city  where  there  were  no  parks,  and  the 
buying  of  a  large  block  of  acreage  that  the  princi 
pals  of  these  agents  owned.  It  seemed  a  fair 
proposition.  The  land  was  all  it  was  claimed  to 

92 


SQUEEZED  93 

be;  the  location  was  excellent;  but  there  had  been 
much  opposition  to  the  project. 

Marsh  noticed  that  certain  members  of  the 
committee,  who  were  on  terms  of  friendship  with 
another  group  of  equally  suave  and  persistent 
agents  which  although  it  apparently  had  no  real 
estate  to  offer  did  not  favour  this  project,  insisted 
that  the  project  should  be  passed  over  each  time 
it  came  up.  They  said  there  was  no  hurry. 
Marsh  grew  interested  and  made  a  sort  of  a  poll 
of  the  committee.  The  committee  divided  about 
equally.  There  were  twenty  members  all  told, 
and  two  were  away  because  of  sickness.  This  left 
an  even  number  and  there  was  an  apparent  tie  — > 
nine  to  nine.  He  had  almost  decided  not  to  vote 
for  the  project  when  the  question  of  putting  it  into 
the  bill  came  up,  regardless  of  what  the  sub-com 
mittee  that  had  the  matter  in  charge  might  recom 
mend,  for  he  had  been  warned  about  real-estate 
deals  in  the  District. 

Union  Consolidated  sagged  down  another 
point.  He  now  had  a  loss  of  more  than  twenty- 
five  hundred  dollars,  counting  interest  —  half  his 
money  —  and  he  was  nervous.  He  had  not  seen 
or  heard  from  the  banker  since  he  signed  the  note, 
and  Rambo  was  cheerfully  confident  the  stock 
would  go  up  in  time.  He  advised  Marsh 
to  hang  on.  Then  one  panicky  day  Union 
went  down  two  more  points,  and  Marsh  had  a 
loss  of  nearly  five  thousand  dollars,  counting 
charges  in  the  total.  He  was  getting  weekly 
statements  from  his  brokers,  and  he  observed 


94  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

that  the  interest  was  mounting  rapidly.  Union 
recovered  two  points  next  day  and  Marsh  felt 
easier. 

One  morning,  just  before  a  vote  on  the  park 
project,  he  received  a  form  letter  from  the  bank. 
It  told  him  that  the  loans  of  the  bank  were  being 
adjusted  and  that  his  loan  was  called.  Would  he 
kindly  step  in  and  pay  his  demand  note  for  three 
thousand  dollars?  Marsh  was  shocked.  He 
had  written  out  to  Morganville  for  money  and  had 
thought  of  mortgaging  his  house.  His  partner 
replied  that  collections  were  slow  and  that  he 
wouldn't  be  able  to  send  him  much  for  a  month  or 
so. 

He  went  down  to  the  bank  and  was  admitted 
to  the  inner  office. 

"  Good-morning,  Mr.  Marsh,"  said  the  banker. 
"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  again.  How  can  I  serve 
you?" 

"  I  received  this  notice  this  morning,"  and 
Marsh  handed  the  banker  the  form  letter. 

The  banker  read  it  slowly.  "Oh!"  he  ex 
claimed,  "  I  am  sorry  this  occurred.  Please  pay 
no  attention  to  it.  It  was  sent  out  by  a  clerk  in 
the  general  course  of  our  regular  loan  adjustment. 
Please  disregard  it.  We  are  only  too  happy  to 
have  your  loan  continue  on  our  books.  I  shall 
see  to  it  that  nothing  like  this  happens  again.  In 
a  big  institution  like  this,  you  know,"  he  continued 
apologetically,  "  one  is  constantly  harassed  by 
subordinates'  inattention  to  details  of  this  kind. 
However,  do  not  concern  yourself,  Mr.  Marsh. 


SQUEEZED  95 

The  money  is  yours  as  long  as  you  desire  it. 
Good-morning." 

That  afternoon  there  was  a  telephone  message 
from  the  bank  asking  if  it  would  be  convenient  for 
Marsh  to  drop  in  on  his  way  down  from  the 
Capitol.  He  went  back,  rather  panicky,  fearful 
there  was  some  mistake  and  that  it  had  been  de 
cided  to  call  his  loan,  and  highly  resolving  not  to 
be  caught  this  way  again.  The  banker  greeted 
him  cordially. 

"  I  hope  this  hasn't  inconvenienced  you,  Mr. 
Marsh,"  he  said,  "  but  it  would  hardly  .do  for  me 
to  go  up  to  the  Capitol,  you  know.  I  meant  to 
speak  to  you  about  an  unimportant  matter  this 
morning,  but  it  escaped  my  mind.  It's  a  matter 
of  little  consequence,  but  one  in  which  we  are  in 
terested  in  a  way.  About  that  park  project,  you 
know.  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Marsh,  I  and  some  of 
my  associates  own  that  land.  We  are  anxious  to 
dispose  of  it.  It  is  a  bargain  as  we  offer  it,  and 
the  city  will  be  a  great  gainer,  for  a  park  is  needed 
in  that  section.  I  trust  you  can  see  your  way 
clear  to  vote  for  it." 

Marsh  flushed  and  clenched  his  fists.  So  this 
was  it  —  they  were  buying  him  for  three  thousand 
dollars!  "Of  course,"  continued  the  banker 
quietly,  "  I  merely  ask  this  on  the  grounds  of  pub 
lic  benefit.  If  you  do  not  think  the  project  meri 
torious  do  not  hesitate  to  condemn  it.  We  shall 
take  no  offence.  Only  think  it  over.  Gcrod- 
afternoon." 

Marsh    walked    out.     When    he    reached    the 


96  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

street  he  remembered  he  had  said  nothing.  He 
was  angry,  humiliated,  bursting  with  desire  to  tell 
somebody. 

As  he  turned  the  corner  he  saw  Senator  Pax- 
ton,  jauntily  parading  along,  immaculate  from  the 
shiny  top  of  his  hat  to  the  shiny  tips  of  his  shoes, 
swinging  a  cane  and  looking  calmly  contented  with 
life. 

"  Oh,  senator !  "  shouted  Marsh,  "  I  want  to 
talk  to  you." 

"  Walk  along  with  me,"  he  said.  "  What's  on 
your  mind?  " 

Marsh  rushed  into  the  story,  telling  it  in  ex 
clamatory  fashion,  and  Paxton  listened,  smiled, 
puffed  at  his  cigar  and  stabbed  at  the  treetrunks 
with  his  cane  as  they  proceeded. 

After  Marsh  had  finished  Paxton  said:  "Oh, 
don't  take  that  too  seriously,  Marsh.  You  tell 
me  yourself  that,  although  you  are  against  this 
project,  you  are  against  it  only  because  you  want 
to  investigate  it  some  more.  There's  nothing 
crooked  about  it.  Of  course  they  want  to  sell 
the  land.  Selling  land  is  the  principal  business 
in  this  city,  and  the  Government  is  the  great  mar 
ket.  The  city  needs  a  park  out  there.  Why  not 
take  this?  The  price  isn't  exorbitant.  What's 
the  matter  with  it?  " 

"  It's  the  method  I  object  to,"  said  Marsh. 

"  Method !  My  eye !  "  continued  the  senator. 
"What's  wrong  with  the  method?  That  man 
accommodated  you.  Why  shouldn't  you  accom 
modate  him,  especially  when  the  project  is  all 


SQUEEZED  97 

right?  Let  me  tell  you  again  that  the  only  way 
to  get  along  in  this  city  is  to  be  helpful  yourself. 
He's  done  you  a  good  turn.  Do  one  for  him. 
It  commits  you  to  nothing.  If  you  want  others 
to  do  things  for  you  —  and  you  will  —  you  must 
do  things  for  others.  That's  the  only  way.  You 
can't  bull  your  way  through  this  game,  Marsh; 
you've  got  to  edge  your  way  along  the  lines  of 
least  resistance.  The  big,  bloviating,  forceful 
person  is  interesting  to  watch;  but  the  man  who 
is  complaisant  when  it's  his  turn  is  the  chap  who 
gets  what  he  goes  after.  Vote  to  put  that  project 
in  the  bill.  It  won't  hurt  you  and  it  may  help 
you." 

Next  morning  Union  Consolidated  was  weak 
and  sagged  off  almost  a  point.  Marsh  saw  his 
five  thousand  dollars  slipping  from  him.  He  at 
tended  the  committee  meeting  and  voted  for  the 
park  project.  His  vote  gave  the  required  ma 
jority  in  committee. 

The  appropriation  for  the  park  project  was  in 
cluded  in  the  Sundry  Civil  Bill  on  the  recommen 
dation  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Committee. 
There  was  some  discussion  over  this  in  the  sub 
committee  of  the  Appropriations  Committee  that 
had  the  matter  in  charge,  but  the  recommendation 
of  the  committee  prevailed.  Marsh  wasn't  com 
fortable.  He  felt  he  had  been  bribed,  but 
he  didn't  know  just  how,  and  he  was  not  en 
tirely  quiet  in  his  mind  until  Union  Con 
solidated  began  to  go  up,  rose  steadily  to  seventy- 
nine,  when  he  closed  out,  made  a  small  profit  and 


98  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

paid  his  note.  Rambo  told  him  he  was  wise. 
Something  had  gone  wrong  in  New  York,  Rambo 
said,  and  it  was  well  enough  to  get  out,  for  there 
would  be  other  chances.  Rambo  was  pleased 
when  he  heard  Marsh  had  voted  for  the  park 
project.  A  week  or  two  later  he  found  that 
Rambo  and  Senator  Paxton  were  close  friends. 

Mrs.  Marsh's  social  activities  took  most  of  her 
time.  She  was  assiduous  in  her  calls,  joined  the 
various  organisations  of  the  women  of  the  con 
gressional  set,  was  charming  in  the  receiving  line 
at  the  reception  given  by  Mrs.  Paxton,  and  when 
the  ladies  at  the  Bruxton  gave  their  second  recep 
tion  she  found  many  more  cards  in  her  basket 
than  she  had  on  the  first  occasion.  She  played 
bridge  mornings  for  very  small  stakes  in  the 
hotel  parlours,  and  she  was  a  very  busy  woman. 
Her  dresses  were  all  successes.  In  addition  to 
her  new  gowns  she  had  bought  new  hats  and  new 
shoes,  and  Marsh  was  astonished  at  the  size  of 
her  bills.  However  she  impressed  on  him  that 
she  was  doing  it  all  for  his  advancement,  and  he 
paid  as  promptly  as  possible. 

Along  toward  the  close  of  the  session,  in  July, 
he  made  a  set  speech  on  some  legal  and  consti 
tutional  phases  of  a  pending  question.  He  talked 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  and  held  many  of  the  mem 
bers,  although  the  afternoon  was  hot.  He  had 
given  much  time  to  the  preparation  of  the  speech, 
and  was  gratified  to  observe  he  had  respectful 
attention  from  those  who  listened  to  him.  The 
galleries  were  well  filled,  too,  and  he  was  con- 


SQUEEZED  99 

tented.  When  the  speech  came  to  him  for  re 
vision  before  it  was  published  in  the  Congressional 
Record  the  secretary  sprinkled  "  applause  "  and 
"  prolonged  applause "  throughout  it.  Marsh 
had  him  mail  a  great  many  copies  of  it  under 
Marsh's  frank,  to  constituents  in  all  parts  of  his 
district. 

The  Washington  newspapers  carried  a  little  of 
it,  the  Associated  Press  said  he  had  been  listened 
to  "  with  marked  attention,"  and  the  local  news 
paper  boys  from  his  state  gave  him  a  paragraph 
in  their  papers.  Rambo  said  it  was  a  fine  speech, 
and  Billy  Byron,  a  man  from  Nebraska  who  was 
in  his  first  term  in  the  House,  told  him  what  might 
be  a  great  help  in  overturning  the  iniquitous  House 
Rules  if  he  would  join  with  the  little  band  of  in 
surgents  operating  even  then. 

One  afternoon,  not  long  afterward,  he  went 
over  to  the  Senate  to  hear  an  important  debate 
and  sat  down  at  a  desk  riext  to  that  of  Senator 
Paxton.  "  I  see  you've  been  making  a  speech," 
said  Paxton. 

"  I  took  a  fling  at  it  the  other  day,"  Marsh  re 
plied. 

"  I  read  it  in  the  Record"  continued  the  sena 
tor.  "  I  observe  you  picked  out  the  safe  and  sane 
specialty." 

"  What  do  you  mean?  " 

"  I  mean  the  Constitution.  That's  the  good 
old  standby  for  the  orators,  perfectly  innocuous, 
perfectly  respectable  and  no  chance  for  a  come 
back.  If  in  doubt  speak  on  the  Constitution.  It 


ioo  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

is  always  there,  you  know,  and  while  it  has  been 
interpreted  by  eloquent  orators  and  justices  and 
lawyers  and  editors  and  statesmen  of  all  classes, 
down  to  the  last  comma,  it  is  always  susceptible 
of  further  interpretation  and  it  is  always  safe. 
You'll  never  get  in  any  trouble  back  home  or  any 
where  else  if  you  make  the  Constitution  your 
specialty.  Besides  you'll  get  a  reputation,  for  if 
you  can  comprehend  any  of  it  you  will  stand  out 
above  these  other  dubs  who  can  comprehend  none 
of  it.  Many  a  mediocre  person  —  not  saying  you 
are  that  —  has  arrived  at  a  reputation  as  a  great 
statesman  by  getting  up  and  defending  the  dear 
old  Constitution,  simply  because  the  people  who 
heard  him  and  the  people  who  wrote  about 
him  didn't  know  what  he  was  talking  about  any 
more  than  he  did,  but  it  sounded  profound  and 
learned. 

"  I  can  point  out  to  you  half-a-dozen  four-flush 
ers  in  this  Senate  and  in  the  House  who  are  always 
referred  to  as  great  constitutional  lawyers  because 
they  have  hammered  away  at  that  immortal  but 
resilient  document,  in  speeches,  interpreted  it,  de 
fended  it,  upheld  it,  praised  it,  chanted  hymns  of 
joy  over  it,  and  all  the  time  they  were  appearing 
in  public  with  no  comeback,  you  understand. 
There  is  no  local  politics  in  the  Constitution,  no 
state  politics  nor  any  factional  dispute.  It  is  there, 
grand,  gloomy  and  peculiar,  and  you  can  go  as 
far  as  you  like  with  it,  and  get  a  lot  of  applause 
from  people  who  don't  know  whether  you  are 


SQUEEZED  lot 

talking  sense  or  rubbish.  Stick  to  the  Constitu 
tion,  Marsh,  and  you  will  soon  be  one  of  our  lead 
ing  constitutional  lawyers,  which  is  a  good  posi 
tion  to  have  and  always  makes  a  hit  with  the 
populace." 

Marsh  had  been  proud  of  his  constitutional  re 
search  and  judgment,  and  he  felt  inclined  to  be 
angry. 

"  Don't  get  ruffled,"  continued  Senator  Paxton. 
"  I'm  only  telling  you  facts.  I'm  older  than  you 
are  and  I've  seen  a  great  many  men  get  along 
under  the  protecting  egis  of  the  Constitution  who 
wouldn't  have  arrived  anywhere  if  they  hadn't 
been  smart  enough  to  pick  out  that  harmless 
institution  as  a  specialty.  And  another  thing: 
Every  once  in  a  while,  when  there's  no  harm  to 
be  done  to  the  organisation,  bolt  your  party  on  a 
vote  in  the  House,  run  off  the  reservation  —  but," 
he  added  impressively,  "  be  sure  to  assign  a  con 
stitutional  reason  for  it.  Never  neglect  that,  and 
never  do  it  when  there  is  anything  important  on  a 
close  vote  at  stake.  Pick  out  a  question  where 
there  is  a  chance  for  difference,  jump  off,  make  a 
loud  noise  about  it,  say  it  pains  you,  but  you  must 
do  it  because  your  party  is  blind,  insensible  and 
otherwise  callous  to  the  constitutional  aspects  of 
the  case.  Say  you  are  bolting  more  in  sadness 
than  in  anger  and  on  purely  constitutional  grounds 
and  you'll  be  surprised  to  see  what  results  you'll 
get.  Besides,  there  is  no  feasible  or  hurtful 
criticism  when  a  man  is  actuated  in  a  bolt  like  this 


102  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

on  the  high  and  holy  motive  of  defence,  and  re 
gard  and  love,  not  to  say  reverence,  for  the  grand 
old  Constitution.  Come  on  down  to  my  com 
mittee  room  and  smoke  a  cigar." 


X 


SOCIAL   ADVANCES 


1 


HERE  was  no  trouble  about  the  re- 
nomination  of  Marsh  that  fall.  The 
independents  hadn't  made  up  their 
minds  about  him,  and  thought  they 
saw  promise  in  him,  and  McManus  apparently 
was  satisfied.  The  convention  was  merely  a  rati 
fication  meeting.  Marsh,  who  was  waiting  at 
an  .adjoining  hotel,  was  escorted  into  the  hall  af 
ter  he  had  been  named,  a.nd  made  a  spread-eagle 
speech  of  acceptance,  which  was  duly  cheered  by 
the  delegates  who  had  gathered  to  register  the 
will  of  McManus. 

The  campaign  was  more  or  less  perfunctory, 
as  the  opposition  had  a  factional  split  and  two 
men  were  named.  Marsh  got  the  normal  Re 
publican  vote,  and  a  few  hundred  disgusted  Demo 
crats  voted  for  him  also,  so  his  plurality  was 
greater  than  it  had  been  when  he  was  first  elected, 
and  this  was  taken  by  everybody  as  a  sign  that 
he  was  making  good.  There  was  a  hot  state 
campaign,  and  Marsh  was  called  upon  to  stump 
several  adjoining  districts  for  his  party's  nominee. 
He  was  a  favourite  with  the  people  and  drew 
excellent  crowds. 

103 


io4  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Before  the  campaign  was  over  he  began  to  look 
on  himself  as  a  power  in  the  state,  and  had  many 
hours  with  himself  in  which  he  resented  the  of- 
course-I-control-you  attitude  of  McManus.  So 
far  as  he  knew,  McManus  conducted  his  political 
affairs  honestly  and  shrewdly,  although  he  al 
ways  demanded  his  reward,  and  Marsh,  after 
thinking  much  about  it,  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  McManus  was  bound  to  him  by  no  ties  that 
could  not  be  broken  if  Marsh  so  desired.  That 
is,  he  decided  McManus  needed  him  as 
much  as  he  needed  McManus.  He  was  merely 
getting  into  a  frame  of  mind  that  illustrated  the 
truth  that  politics  is  the  most  selfish  business  on 
earth. 

Marsh  did  as  much  as  he  could  at  the  law  but 
that  wasn't  much,  for  politics  kept  him  busy.  He 
collected  some  money  due  him,  took  a  retainer  or 
two  and  sold  a  few  lots  he  had  in  a  subdivision  of 
Morganville.  McManus  had  been  successful  in 
getting  a  fair  amount  from  the  National  Congres 
sional  Campaign  Committee,  and  he  assessed 
Marsh  only  five  hundred  dollars,  warning  him 
that  he  would  have  to  put  up  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars  next  time  he  ran.  Marsh  found  his  one 
session  in  Congress  had  given  him  a  standing  in 
his  district  he  had  not  hitherto  enjoyed,  and  he 
was  well  pleased  with  himself  when  he  returned 
to  Washington,  immediately  after  Thanksgiving 
Day,  for  the  short  concluding  session  of  his  first 
term. 

Money  was  uppermost  in  his  mind,  money  and 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  105 

how  to  get  it.  He  had  resorted  to  every  device, 
and  had  been  able  only  to  come  out  even  at  the 
end  of  his  first  session.  He  had  even  gone  to  the 
lengths  of  naming  Mrs.  Marsh  for  his  personal 
clerk,  hiring  a  stenographer  for  fifty  dollars  a 
month  to  do  the  work,  and  pocketing  the  balance, 
a  little  scheme  he  found  was  in  general  practice 
among  the  members  who  had  no  incomes  outside 
their  salaries.  He  also  learned  that  sons  and 
daughters  of  influential  men  in  the  House  were 
carried  as  clerks  and  secretaries  and  messengers, 
and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  draw  his  mileage 
and  to  commute  his  stationery  account.  He  had 
cultivated  the  disbursing  officer,  and  could  get  an 
advance  of  a  hundred  dollars  or  so  on  his  salary 
from  time  to  time.  It  was  nauseating  business, 
though,  this  constant  scheming  and  contriving 
to  make  his  income  meet  his  expenses,  and  he 
was  eager  to  find  ways  to  make  money  and  re 
lieve  himself  of  the  horrors  of  being  constantly 
hard-up. 

One  thing  that  bothered  him  was  Mrs.  Marsh's 
insistence  they  should  move  from  the  Bruxton  to 
a  more  fashionable  hotel.  Marsh  was  well  sat 
isfied  with  the  Bruxton,  although  he  intended  to 
get  better  quarters  as  soon  as  he  could  manage 
it.  Mrs.  Marsh  said  the  Bruxton  was  impossible, 
and  had  selected  a  place  on  an  avenue  where  she 
knew  the  society  was  more  select.  She  argued 
unceasingly  with  Marsh  that  she  was  deterred  in 
her  earnest  efforts  to  help  him  to  advancement 
in  his  career  by  her  Bruxton  environment; 


106  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

but  he,  figuring  on  the  expense,  decided  to  wait 
for  a  time.  Besides,  Dorothy  was  finishing  her 
school  that  year  and  would  come  to  Washington 
with  them  next  December,  when  Marsh  would  be 
gin  his  second  term,  and  that  would  mean  an  in 
crease  in  expenses;  for  Dorothy's  upkeep,  aside 
from  her  simple  frocks,  was  nothing  in  Morgan- 
ville,  as  she  lived  with  her  grandmother. 

The  short  session  passed  quickly.  Mrs. 
Marsh  was  devoted  to  her  calls  and  receptions. 
She  had  developed  into  a  stylish,  correctly  attired, 
distinguished-looking  woman,  had  learned  much 
in  the  way  of  the  amenities  as  Washington  official 
society  practises  them,  and  was  known,  among 
those  who  knew  her  at  all,  as  "  the  clever  Mrs. 
Marsh."  She  had  a  gift  of  light  conversation, 
was  quick-witted,  good-humoured,  extremely  self- 
confident  and  had  developed  poise.  Her  gowns 
caused  Marsh  some  financial  stress,  but  he  was 
proud  of  her,  and  he  managed  to  get  her  what 
she  wanted,  although  he  hadn't  much  left  when 
all  her  demands  were  met.  He  worked  hard 
in  his  committee  and  was  popular  with  the 
men  he  met  there  in  the  House,  where  he  knew 
about  a  hundred  of  the  members  and  had  a  bow 
ing  acquaintance  with  a  hundred  more.  Rambo 
continued  on  friendly  terms,  but  volunteered  no 
further  stock-market  information.  Once  or  twice 
Marsh  asked  him  if  there  was  anything  in  sight, 
and  Rambo  each  time  shook  his  head  and  said  the 
times  were  not  propitious. 

"  If  anything  turns  up  that  looks  good  I'll  let 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  107 

you  in  on  it,  Marsh,"  he  said.  "  No  use  of  our 
bucking  it  ourselves.  Wait  until  we  get  the  in 
side  stuff." 

Marsh  had  no  pressing  political  worries  when 
he  reached  Morganville  a  few  days  after  the  Con 
gress  adjourned  on  March  fourth,  and  he  went 
vigorously  at  his  law  business  and  had  good  luck. 
He  lived  quietly,  asserted  his  authority  when  Mrs. 
Marsh  decided  to  go  to  a  fashionable  summer 
hotel  for  July  and  August,  and  sent  her  and  Doro 
thy  to  a  small  place  in  the  mountains.  He  brought 
three  thousand  dollars  in  cash  with  him  when  he 
returned  to  Washington  in  November,  and  owed 
nothing  in  his  home  town  save  current  bills.  He 
took  the  three  thousand  dollars  to  the  banker  who 
had  loaned  him  the  same  amount  a  year  or  so  be 
fore.  The  banker  was  smilingly  glad  to  see  him. 
He  said  he  had  wondered  what  had  become  of 
him,  offered  him  every  accommodation  his  insti 
tution  afforded  and  assured  Marsh  it  was  a  pleas 
ure  to  serve  him.  Marsh  noticed  that  the  bank 
er's  smile  was  confined  to  his  lips.  His  eyes  were 
cold  and  steely-grey. 

Senator  Paxton  sent  a  note  to  Marsh  and  asked 
him  to  drop  round  when  it  was  convenient. 
Marsh  went  immediately.  He  had  heard,  out  in 
the  district,  that  Paxton  thought  well  of  him  and 
predicted  a  future  for  him,  and  Paxton  was  a 
greater  state  power  than  McManus. 

"  Marsh,"  said  the  senator,  "  there's  a  vacancy 
on  the  Public  Lands  Committee  you  can  have  if 
you  want  it." 


io8  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  I  though  I  would  like  to  stay  on  District  of 
Columbia." 

"  Oh,  that's  all  right,  only  there  is  no  end  of 
work  to  it.  You  can  stay  there,  too,  and  you'll 
get  up  on  the  list,  for  three  of  the  men  above 
you  are  not  coming  back."  Marsh  knew  this  and 
had  figured  on  it.  He  had  learned  length  of 
service  is  what  counts  in  attaining  high  com 
mittee  places,  that  seniority  is  more  potent  than 
ability.  The  dropping  out  of  these  three  men 
put  him  fourth  from  the  bottom  instead  of  at  the 
bottom  of  the  committee  on  the  majority  side. 

"  You  see,"  continued  the  senator,  "  I  sort  of 
own  a  place  on  that  Lands  Committee  —  you 
know  we  are  interested  in  land  questions  out  our 
way  —  and  I  thought  you  might  like  it." 

"  Is  the  speaker  willing?  "  asked  Marsh. 

Senator  Paxton  smiled  a  little,  whimsical  smile. 
*{  I  guess  he  will  be,"  he  said  In  a  matter-of-fact 
way. 

Marsh  felt  he  was  being  shoved  on  that  Lands 
Committee.  It  didn't  interest  him  particularly, 
but  he  felt  also  that  his  being  on  the  committee 
did  interest  Senator  Paxton  greatly.  As  the  sen 
ator  had  predicted,  the  speaker  was  willing  to 
name  him.  Indeed,  the  speaker  suggested  it. 
Marsh's  colleagues  said  he  was  lucky  in  getting 
two  such  important  assignments.  Marsh  didn't 
know  whether  he  was  lucky  or  not.  He  had 
doubts. 

The  hotel  question  was  a  permanent  topic  of 
discussion  between  Marsh  and  Mrs.  Marsh. 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  109; 

They  had  returned  to  their  old  rooms  in  the  Brux- 
ton,  but  they  had  been  obliged  to  take  an  addi 
tional  room  for  Dorothy.  Mrs.  Marsh  had  am 
bitious  plans  for  Dorothy.  She  intended  to  put 
her  in  the  most  fashionable  school  for  young 
ladies  in  the  city,  where,  she  said,  "  she  can  meet 
and  associate  with  the  daughters  of  exclusive 
people/'  Marsh  knew  all  along  there  would  be 
but  one  compromise  on  the  hotel  question,  and 
that  that  would  be  to  do  as  Mrs.  Marsh  was  in 
sisting,  so  he  gave  in.  They  moved  to  a  hotel 
on  an  avenue  where  they  rented  two  rooms  and 
a  bath,  not  so  comfortable  as  those  they  had  at 
the  Bruxton,  for  $300  a  month  instead  of  $200, 
with  an  additional  charge  for  Dorothy. 

Then  came  the  school  problem.  Mrs.  Marsh 
had  made  a  study  of  that.  Washington  had  many 
schools  for  girls  ranging  from  one  so  high-priced 
that  it  was  patronised  only  by  daughters  of  very 
rich  men  down  to  less  pretentious  ones,  where  the 
tuition  was  but  $500  a  year. 

"  But  five  hundred?"  said  Marsh,  when  Mrs. 
Marsh  mentioned  this  sum  to  him  deprecatingly. 
"  For  Heaven's  sake,  isn't  that  enough  to  pay  a 
year  for  any  girl's  education?" 

Dorothy  thought  it  was  too  much.  She  was 
not  keen  about  finishing  at  a  "  finishing  "  school. 
She  was  a  girl  of  good  spirit  and  good  sense,  and 
she  said  she'd  just  as  soon  stay  in  Morganville  as 
be  cooped  up  in  a  seminary  and  taught  to  play 
the  piano  and  to  talk  French.  She  said  she  hated 
the  piano  and  loathed  French,  and  she  liked  to  be 


no  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

with  her  grandmother  if  she  couldn't  be  with  her 
father,  whom  she  adored. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  shocked.  "  But  my  dear 
Dorothy,"  she  protested,  "  think  of  the  opportuni 
ties  this  will  give  you  to  meet  the  daughters  of  the 
best  families,  and  to  fit  yourself  for  the  position 
you  are  to  assume?" 

Dorothy  pouted.  "  I  don't  see  how  it  will  help 
papa  any  to  stick  me  away  in  one  of  those  horrid 
schools  and  fill  me  full  of  things  I  don't  want  to 
know." 

u  Anyhow,"  declared  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  you  are 
going.  That's  settled." 

However,  Dorothy  didn't  go  to  the  school 
Mrs.  Marsh  had  selected.  Marsh  had  a  talk 
with  Cragston,  a  rich  member  from  the  East  who 
had  two  daughters  in  school  in  Washington. 

"  Don't  be  fooled  by  that  thousand-dollar-a 
year  stuff,  Marsh,"  cautioned  Cragston.  "  The 
thousand  is  only  the  beginning.  It  pays  for  tui 
tion  and  board  and  room.  About  everything  else 
is  extra.  It  costs  me  about  five  thousand  a  year 
for  my  two  girls  up  there.  And,  believe  me,  they 
are  being  finished  in  a  way  that  will  cost  me  a 
good  many  thousands  more  than  that  after  the 
final  touches  have  been  applied." 

Marsh  said  he  couldn't  afford  it.  Dor 
othy  stood  boldly  by  and  said  she  didn't  want 
him  to  afford  it.  A  compromise  was  reached, 
and  Dorothy  went  to  a  school,  not  so  fashionable 
as  the  other,  but  still  fashionable  enough  to  cost 
six  hundred  dollars  a  year,  with  extras  that  would 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  in 

make  the  total  reach  about  a  thousand.  She 
started  late.  Next  year,  Mrs.  Marsh  declared, 
she  would  have  to  be  in  Washington  for  the 
school  opening. 

After  the  organisation  of  the  House  had  been 
perfected  and  the  Christmas  holidays  were  over 
— the  Marshes  stayed  in  Washington  instead  of 
going  to  Morganville  —  the  first  call  was  issued 
for  a  meeting  of  the  Public  Lands  Committee 
and  Marsh  attended  to  get  acquainted  with  his 
associates.  They  were  mostly  Western  men, 
men  who  were  concerned  with  the  questions  af 
fecting  the  public  domain,  and  the  bulk  of  them 
had  been  several  terms  in  Congress  and  knew  all 
the  ropes.  They  all  greeted  Marsh  kindly, 
especially  Rambo,  who  was  the  second  man  on  the 
list,  ranking  next  to  the  chairman,  and,  as  Marsh 
soon  learned,  a  power  in  the  affairs  of  the 
committee.  Rambo  spent  several  afternoons 
with  Marsh,  outlining  possible  land  legisla 
tion,  and  was  deeply  concerned  over  the  revision 
of  several  of  the  existing  land  laws,  which,  he  said, 
were  unfair  both  to  the  settlers  and  to  the  Gov 
ernment.  He  argued  there  was  entirely  too 
much  red  tape  about  land  matters,  and  especially 
about  patenting  land  claims,  and  was  in  favour  of 
a  less  restricted  system,  whereby  the  public  do 
main  might  be  easier  of  access  and  settlers  would 
not  be  so  hampered  by  a  multiplicity  of  detail. 
Rambo  said  the  land  laws  had  been  changed  and 
amended  and  confused  until  the  practice  under 
them,  in  the  Interior  Department,  gave  too  much 


ii2  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

power  to  the  Commissioner  of  the  Public  Landi 
Office.  Marsh  was  not  particularly  interested, 
but  he  listened  politely  to  all  Rambo  said  and 
decided  to  look  into  the  subject  when  he  had 
time. 

One  day  Marsh  was  talking  with  Senator  Pax- 
ton,  and  the  name  of  a  former  senator,  who  was 
practising  law  in  Washington,  and  who  repre 
sented  certain  diversified  interests  that  had  mat 
ters  of  concern  before  Congress,  was  mentioned. 

"  I  suppose,"  remarked  Marsh  casually,  "  he 
is  a  crook." 

"  Hold  on,  Marsh !  "  said  the  senator.  "  Don't 
fall  into  that  loose  manner  of  speaking  about 
others  here  in  Washington.  A  man  may  prac 
tise  law  as  legitimately  here  as  in  Morganville, 
and  as  illegitimately,  too,  if  it  comes  to  that. 
The  mere  fact  that  a  man  does  practise  law  in 
Washington,  that  he  has  been  in  Congress  and 
that  he  does  represent  clients  who  are  interested 
in  what  Congress  is  doing,  does  not  make  him 
crooked  any  more  than  it  makes  him  a  Moham 
medan.  It  is  so  common  a  custom  to  call  a  man 
who  does  not  agree  with  you  a  crook  that  it  is 
almost  universal.  You  see,  we  all  predicate  the 
total  honesty  of  the  world  on  the  honesty  we  per 
sonally  assign  to  ourselves.  We  all  think  we  are 
honest  —  think  we  are  —  except  in  rare  cases 
when  we  have  reached  the  sublimity  of  philo 
sophical  maturity  and  cease  trying  to  fool  our 
selves.  Therefore,  inasmuch  as  we  are  honest, 
according  to  our  own  estimation,  we  also  think  any 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  113 

man  who  does  not  agree  with  us  is  dishonest,  a 
crook,  and  we  say  so  in  many  instances  without  any 
knowledge  of  the  facts,  or  any  other  kind  of  basis 
except  our  own  egotistical  self-appraisement. 

"  It  is  one  of  the  cheapest  tricks  of  the  dema 
gogue  and  the  hypocrite  —  and  we  have  scores  of 
them  here  as  there  are  scores  of  them  everywhere 
—  to  try  to  discredit  opposition  by  saying  op 
ponents  are  crooks  and  liars.  We  assume  all  the 
virtues  ourselves.  We  refuse  to  allow  any  who 
disagree  with  us  credit  for  any  honesty  of  opinion 
or  honesty  of  practice.  This  vaunted  civilisation 
of  ours,  Marsh,  is  carried  on  by  two  sets  of  peo 
ple.  The  first  consists  of  a  large  section  of  the 
populace  who  are  insistent  you  shall  do  what  they 
want  you  to  do;  and  the  second  is  you  yourself, 
equally  insistent  that  all  others  shall  do  what 
you  want  them  to  do.  In  the  struggle  it  al 
ways  falls  out  that  each  side  —  all  others  and 
yourself  —  do  not  get  others  to  do  what  you  want 
them  to  do,  nor  do  you  do  what  you  want  to 
do  yourself.  No  man  gets  any  other  to  do  what 
he  wants  that  other  to  do,  but  every  man  unceas 
ingly,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  does  what 
others  want  him  to  do,  never  what  he  wants  to  do 
himself. 

"  Failing  to  recognise  this  great  truth,  we  per 
sist  in  our  opinions,  and  when  we  find  a  man  who 
persists  against  those  opinions  we  seek  to  demol 
ish  him  by  calling  him  a  crook  —  not  because  he 
is  a  crook,  mind  you,  but  because  he  opposes 
what  we  want,  we  being,  in  our  opinions,  immacu- 


ii4  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

lately  honest.  Now  it  is  the  same  here.  It  is 
the  common  custom  to  speak  of  men  as  crooked 
because  they  have  an  opportunity  to  be  crooked 
or  because  we  think  they  have  that  opportunity. 
You  said  that  man  was  crooked,  and  you  didn't 
stop  to  reflect  that  the  only  reason  on  this  earth 
that  gives  him  a  chance  to  be  crooked  is  his  oppor 
tunity.  And  that  opportunity,  if  it  does  exist,  ex 
ists  because  we  are  crooked  ourselves,  for  what 
business  can  a  crook  do  with  honest  men?  If  he 
is  a  successful  crook,  the  men  he  deals  with  must  be 
crooks  also,  and  we  are  the  men  he  deals  with  — •• 
you  and  I  and  the  other  members  of  this  Congress. 
He  doesn't  steal  anything,  for  example  —  he  has 
no  power  to  steal  anything;  but  if  anything  is 
stolen  we  steal  it  for  him,  at  his  request  or  for  a 
share  of  the  swag." 

"  Well,"  said  Marsh  doggedly,  "  I  heard  he 
is  a  lobbyist." 

"Lobbyist!  Faugh!"  snorted  the  senator. 
'  That  word  always  makes  me  tired.  There  may 
have  been  times  in  this  city  when  there  were  lob 
byists  who  could  lobby,  but  those  times  are  gone. 
If  you  could  gather  all  the  so-called  lobbyists  in 
this  city  into  statuary  hall  you  would  find  the 
whole  bunch  of  them  haven't  as  much  influence  on 
Congress  as  one  of  the  marble  effigies  there. 
They  are  legislative  hangers-on,  cheaper  than 
messengers,  who  seek  to  sell  their  supposed 
acquaintance  and  influence  with  legislators  to  un 
sophisticated  come-ons  who  want  favours  from 
Congress.  Most  of  them  could  not  get  into  the 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  115; 

office  of  a  senator  or  a  representative,  certainly 
not  into  the  office  of  a  senator  or  representative 
who  knows  the  game,  and  they  have  about  as 
much  real  effect  on  American  legislation  as  on  the 
Russian  Duma.  They  slither  in  and  slither  out, 
and  hang  about  hotels  and  cadge  money  and  it  is 
all  a  confidence  game  both  ways.  It  is  cheap  and 
nasty  and  predicated  on  the  widespread  belief 
that  legislation  can  be  bought." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  legislation  cannot  be 
bought?"  asked  Marsh,  who  felt  he  was  being 
politely  rebuked. 

"  Certainly  legislation  can  be  bought,  and  legis 
lation  can  be  obtained  by  influence,  but  legislation 
cannot  be  bought  by  the  raw  passing  of  money. 
There  are  some  men  in  this  Congress  who  would 
take  a  bribe  —  take  the  money  —  but  not  many. 
Intrinsically,  the  majority  of  these  men  here  are 
straight  that  way.  Most  of  them  would  kick  you 
out  of  their  rooms  if  you  tried  to  hand  them 
money  —  most  of  them,  not  all.  That  isn't  the 
way  legislation  is  bought,  nor  is  it  the  way  indi 
viduals  are  bought.  The  real  lobbyists,  the  men 
who  buy  legislation  or  get  it  without  buying  it  — 
sometimes  —  work  another  way.  They  are  not 
former  members  or  former  senators  or  former 
anythings.  They  are  the  real,  live  big-heads  of  the 
big  interests  who  want  legislation.  And  they 
don't  work  with  the  individual  members.  They 
work  through  the  organisation.  They  apply  their 
political  knowledge.  They  get  the  bosses.  The 
bosses  get  the  rest  of  the  crowd. 


ii6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  When  anything  important  is  going  on  here 
you  don't  find  these  former  congressmen  in  any 
capacity  other  than  errand  boys,  these  lobbyists 
you  speak  about.  You  do  find  on  the  spot  the 
biggest  men  in  the  interest  affected.  They 
come  here.  They  deal  with  the  men  who  control 
the  Senate  and  the  House.  They  help  maintain 
the  organisation,  and  they  pick  out  here  and  there 
a  man  who  is  important  and  influential  and  get 
him.  He  gets  the  others.  The  rank  and  file  are 
not  dishonest,  for  one  great  reason  if  for  no  other 
—  they  haven't  the  chance.  The  big  fellows  deal 
with  the  big  fellows  arid  the  rank  and  file  take 
their  orders,  and  there  you  are." 

"  Then  it's  largely  political,"  said  Marsh. 

"  It's  entirely  political.  Everything  in  Wash 
ington  is  political.  Politics  is  first  in  all  legisla 
tion,  and  all  others  considerations  —  the  people, 
the  country,  everything  else  —  are  trailing  along 
way  behind.  We  legislate  for  one  purpose  only, 
and  that  one  purpose  is  to  maintain  ourselves  and 
our  party  in  power.  Every  bit  of  legislation  has 
a  political  end  to  it,  even  the  getting  of  an  eight- 
dollar  pension.  The  men  in  Congress  have  one 
great,  imperative  interest  —  to  stay  in  Congress 
themselves  and  keep  their  party  in  power  in 
Congress  and  in  the  White  House.  All  legisla 
tion  is  directed  to  that  end.  Thus  when  a  big 
interest  is  affected  by  any  proposed  legislation 
that  big  interest  has  learned  not  to  try  to  deal  with 
individuals,  but  to  deal  with  the  heads  of  the  or 
ganisation  that  controls  the  individuals,  the 


SOCIAL  ADVANCES  117 

organisation  that  must  be  maintained  because  it 
in  turn  maintains  the  individuals  and  helps  them 
maintain  themselves." 

"Where  do  the  people  come  in?"  asked 
Marsh. 

"  They  do  not  come  in.  When  you  get  down 
to  bed-rock,  despite  all  the  yawp  and  yammer 
about  the  people  and  despite  the  public  parading 
of  love  for  the  same  by  the  men  in  Congress,  you 
discover  that  the  people,  the  real  people  for 
whom  legislation  is  passed,  consist  of  two  senators 
from  each  state  and  whatever  number  of  repre 
sentatives  there  may  be.  They  are  the  people. 
The  rest  of  the  population  of  their  state  is  a  means 
to  their  ends.  These  others  are  necessary  for 
voting  purposes,  but  the  primest  necessity  in  the 
case  consists  in  directing  their  purposes  so  they 
will  vote  for  the  persons  who  are  legislating,  in 
order  that  those  persons  may  continue  legislating 
—  and  those  persons,  meaning  the  members  of 
Congress,  legislate  first  with  eyes  single  to  how  the 
legislation  will  affect  their  individual  political  for 
tunes,  how  it  will  delude  the  people  into  continu 
ing  their  support,  and  their  legislation  is  framed 
for  no  other  purpose.  If  the  people  derive  any 
incidental  or  accidental  benefit  all  well  and  good. 
But  if  the  legislator  wants  to  remain  in  power 
he  is  actuated  by  no  higher  motive  than  that. 
Popularity  means  power.  Hence  he  does  what 
seems  the  politic,  the  popular  thing  in  order  to 
help  himself.  Occasionally  there  comes  a  man 
who  fights  out  in  the  open  for  what  he  thinks 


n8  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  people  should  have,  regardless  of  his  own 
fortunes;  but  there  are  not  many  of  them  and  they 
do  not  last  long.  I  hope  I'm  not  boring  you." 

"  Go  on,"  said  Marsh. 

"  The  chief  evil  of  every  political  system,  not 
only  in  this  country  but  in  all  the  world,  is  not 
dishonesty,  but  hypocrisy  —  this  eternal  pretence 
of  legislating  for  the  people,  when  we  are  legis 
lating  for  ourselves  first,  and  the  people  get  only 
the  crumbs  of  it.  Occasionally  the  people  take 
matters  in  their  own  hands  and  do  some  legislat 
ing  with  axes  and  the  torch,  but  not  often.  They 
are  too  much  concerned  with  getting  enough  to  eat 
and  to  wear  and  with  keeping  warm  to  look  into 
politics,  except  emotionally  and  spasmodically; 
and  when  they  overturn  an  organisation  they  for 
get  what  the  system  produced,  and  look  hope 
fully  for  new  results  from  the  organisation  they 
have  put  in  power.  They  do  not  remember  the 
men  who  are  in  power  are  exactly  the  same,  in 
every  human  attribute,  as  those  they  put  out 
of  power,  and  after  the  preliminary  splutter  will 
strive  to  continue  in  power  and  place  just  as  their 
predecessors  did.  The  people  get  an  advantage 
by  the  overturn  of  a  party,  and  then  fail  to  press 
it.  They  quit  in  the  middle  of  their  work.  The 
politicians  understand  this,  and  it  is  not  a  matter 
of  such  terrifying  moment  for  a  party  to  be  beaten, 
for  the  leaders  know  the  pendulum  swings  back  and 
forth,  because  the  swinging  machinery,  the  people, 
forget  how  they  regulated  things  and  substitute 
hope  for  continued  watchfulness." 


XI 

THE   BOLT 

MARSH    thought    much    about    what 
Senator   Paxton   had   said,   and   his 
own   views    coincided   with   the    ob 
servations  of  that  experienced  per 
son.     He  had  already  discovered  that  with  the 
other  members  of  Congress  the  most  potent  argu 
ment  for  legislation,  for  appropriations,  for  the 
passage  of  private  claims  and  for  voting  on  gen 
eral  bills  was :     "  It  will  help  me  in  my  district." 
Man  after  man  came  to  him  and  asked  him  to  vote 
for  or  against  various  propositions  on  that  ground 
—  personal  aid  for  the  asker  in  his  home  dis 
trict.     Back  of  that  was  the  party  obligation. 
"  Rally,  boys !  "  the  leader  said.     "  The  organisa 
tion  wants  it.     It  is  for  the  party." 

Moreover  he  found  that  men  frequently  op 
posed  bills  publicly,  and  even  went  to  the  length 
of  speaking  against  them,  when  they  privately 
urged  the  passage  of  those  measures  because  of 
some  influence  that  was  powerful  but  not  popular 
back  home  or  at  large.  He  was  often  urged  to 
vote  for  a  bill  on  the  ground  that  it  wouldn't 
hurt  him  any  to  support  it,  by  men  who  loudly  and 
impressively  voted  against  it.  He  had  noticed 

119 


120          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

also  that  members  dodged  votes,  staying  out  of 
committees  on  various  pretences  when  a  matter 
dangerous  politically  was  under  consideration, 
and  resorting  to  all  sorts  of  petty  subterfuges  to 
keep  their  records  clear  and  in  accord  with  popu 
lar  temper  as  they  understood  it,  or  at  least  neutral 
or  inoffensive,  so  there  might  not  be  criticism  at 
home,  or  if  there  were  criticism  that  it  might  be 
answered  successfully  or  plausibly  and  witH  no 
loss  of  prestige. 

He  had  voted  uniformly  with  the  organisation 
on  party  measures,  but  he  resolved  to  take  an  in 
dependent  stand  on  some  bill,  trusting  in  his 
rather  inflated  estimate  of  his  own  power  as  an 
orator  to  pull  him  through.  He  decided  to 
prove  to  the  country  he  was  no  hypocrite  and 
a  true  friend  of  the  people,  and  to  rush  to  heights 
of  respect  and  confidence  by  that  process.  His 
opportunity  came  sooner  than  he  expected.  A 
bill  that  gave  him  a  chance  was  dropped  in  the 
basket  by  a  Western  member  and  referred  to  the 
Lands  Committee.  It  was  a  bill  that  involved 
the  illegality  of  a  land  grab  in  the  West. 

A  certain  corporation  composed  of  powerful 
men  had  fenced  in  a  large  tract  of  public  domain 
and  used  it  for  grazing  purposes.  The  cor 
poration  had  been  unmolested  for  years  and 
had  come  to  look  on  the  land  as  its  own  property. 
A  zealous  young  man  in  the  Interior  Depart 
ment  had  exposed  the  swindle  and  had  made 
a  report  on  it.  This  was  published,  and  there 
was  a  demand  that  the  land  be  returned  to  the 


THE  BOLT  121 

Government.  The  officials  were  not  particularly 
eager  to  stir  up  the  men  who  had  seized  the 
land,  but  the/  had  to  proceed.  The  result  was, 
after  a  long  delay  and  a  lot  of  backing  and  fill 
ing,  a  bill  was  introduced  that  practically  gave  the 
land  to  the  corporation  and  removed  the  illegality 
of  their  seizure.  It  was  cunningly  worded  and 
seemed  to  have  much  precedent  behind  it.  There 
were  many  committeemen  who  favoured  it,  includ 
ing  Rambo,  who  was  ardently  for  it. 

Marsh  had  had  experience  in  land  cases  and  he 
studied  the  bill  carefully.  He  talked  about  it 
with  other  members  of  his  committee,  and  discov 
ered  the  general  feeling  was  that  it  would  be 
advisable  to  rush  the  bill  through  before  there 
was  much  chance  for  critical  publicity,  and  get  it 
over  to  the  Senate,  where  the  fencers  had  strong 
support,  or  to  smother  the  matter,  pigeonhole  the 
bill  and  trust  to  time  and  the  leaders  to  bring  the 
Interior  Department  round  to  a  reasonable  frame 
of  mind.  Byron,  the  member  from  Nebraska 
who  had  insurgent  tendencies,  was  on  the  Lands 
Committee  also,  and  he  had  been  looking  into 
this  bill.  Marsh  talked  with  him. 

"  It's  a  steal,"  said  Byron,  "  a  rank  steal. 
These  men  have  no  right  to  that  land,  never  did 
have  any  right  to  it,  and  now  they  are  trying  to 
establish  a  claim  that  is  a  swindle  on  the  face  of 
it.  I'm  against  it." 

"  How  far  will  you  go  ?  "  asked  Marsh. 
*  To   the   limit,"   Byron   replied   emphatically. 
"  I  intend  to  oppose  the  bill  in  committee  and  do 


122          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

what  I  can  to  beat  it.  Unfortunately  my  attitude 
toward  the  oligarchy  that  rules  this  House  is  so 
well  known  that  my  opposition  will  probably  have 
the  tendency  of  bringing  an  early  and  favourable 
report  on  the  bill.  They're  hazing  me,  you 
know." 

"  Hazing  you?  " 

"  Sure !  They  can't  get  me  with  any  of  the  old 
lures,  and  they  are  trying  to  break  my  back  and 
my  spirit  by  opposing  everything  I  am  interested 
in,  and  otherwise  making  it  uncomfortable  for 
me.  And  let  me  tell  you,  Marsh,  they  are  past- 
masters  at  that  art." 

"  Will  you  join  with  me  in  trying  to  beat  the 
bill?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  I'll  not  only  join  you,  but  I'll  follow  you," 
promised  Byron.  "  If  we  can  get  another  mem 
ber  or  two  we  can  make  a  showing  and  perhaps 
stop  it  by  making  such  a  yell  that  the  newspapers 
will  take  it  up." 

"  We'll  talk  about  it  again  to-morrow,"  said 
Marsh.  "  I  feel  the  same  way  you  do  about  it 
and  I  think  we  should  fight  it." 

Next  day  Marsh  and  Byron  had  another  con 
versation.  They  found  that  Rochester,  also  a 
Western  member  of  the  committee,  had  grave 
misgivings  about  this  bill,  and  they  filled  him  with 
their  ideas  and  secured  his  tentative  assent  to  help 
them.  Byron  and  Marsh  talked  long  about  the 
matter.  It  was  decided  Marsh  should  take  the 
initiative  against  the  bill  in  the  committee,  and  that 
Byron  and  Rochester  would  back  him  up. 


THE  BOLT  123 

One  morning,  in  a  committee  meeting,  the  chair 
man  of  the  committee  said  casually:  "Gentle 
men  of  the  committee,  here  is  a  little  bill  that  we 
might  as  well  dispose  of.  It  has  reference  to 
some  fencing  operations  out  West  by  some  men, 
who,  as  I  understand  it,  thought  they  were  fully 
within  their  rights.  There  has  been  a  fuss  about 
it  and  this  bill  is  designed  to  set  these  men  straight 
in  the  matter.  It  is  of  little  moment.  Shall  we 
report  it  favourably  and  recommend  its  passage?  " 

"  I  move  that  this  committee  present  a  favoura 
ble  report  on  this  bill  and  recommend  it  for  pass 
age,"  said  Rambo. 

"  I  second  that,"  put  in  another. 

"  All  in  favour  of  the  motion  signify  by  saying 
aye,  contrary-minded  no,"  rattled  the  chairman. 
"The  ayes  —  " 

Marsh  arose  from  his  seat  at  the  end  of  the 
table. 

"Mr.  Chairman!" 

The  chairman  looked  at  Marsh  with  an  expres 
sion  of  pained  surprise.  He  recognised  Marsh 
in  a  manner  that  indicated  the  chairman  was 
firmly  of  the  opinion  this  new  member  was  pro 
jecting  himself  in  an  unwarranted  manner  into  the 
proceedings  of  the  committee. 

"  Mr.  Chairman,"  said  Marsh,  "  I  ask  that 
that  bill  go  over." 

There  was  a  chorus  of  protest  from  the  older 
members  of  the  committee. 

"  I  insist,"  continued  Marsh,  "  that  this  bill 
shall  go  over.  It  has  had  no  consideration  in  this 


i24  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

committee  that  I  know  about,  and  I  am  well  within 
my  rights  when  I  say  I  desire  to  examine  into  it 
and  request  that  action  shall  not  be  precipitate. 
This  is  an  important  bill.  In  my  opinion  it  is  a 
wicked  bill." 

The  older  members  of  the  committee  looked 
virtuous  as  possible.  The  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  was  still  shocked  and  pained. 

"  I  insist,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  bill  shall  go 
over,  and  I  make  that  motion.'* 

"  I  second  it,"  said  Byron. 

"  Vote !  "  shouted  one  or  two  members. 

"  Of  course,"  declaimed  the  chairman  in  his 
most  impressive  manner,  "  there  is  no  desire  on 
the  part  of  this  committee  or  any  of  its  members 
to  rush  through  a  bill  without  giving  every  mem 
ber  ample  opportunity  to  state  his  objections. 
Will  twenty-four  hours  be  sufficient  time  for  study 
for  the  gentleman?  " 

"Ample,"  said  Marsh. 

'*  Very  well,  the  bill  will  go  over  for  a  day,  but 
to-morrow  I  shall  demand  a  vote  on  it." 

Most  of  the  older  members  looked  curiously  at 
Marsh    and    wondered   what   he    had    in   mind. 
After  the  committee  meeting  adjourned  Rambo- 
came  to  him. 

"  What's  up,  Marsh?  "  he  asked. 

"  That's  a  rotten  bill,  that's  what's  up;  and  I'm 
not  going  to  stand  for  rushing  it  through  this  com 
mittee  and  out  on  the  floor  of  the  House.  I've 
got  some  things  to  say  about  it  and  I'm  going  to 
say  them." 


THE  BOLT  125 

"  But,"  said  Rambo,  "  the  boys  want  it.  It 
doesn't  hurt  you  any  and  it  helps  some  of  our  very 
good  friends.  Better  forget  it.  What  differ 
ence  does  it  make  to  you?  " 

"  It  makes  this  difference,  Rambo,"  Marsh  re 
torted  hotly.  "  I  know  that  bill  condones  an  of 
fence  against  our  laws.  It  practically  gives  that 
land  to  the  men  who  stole  it  years  ago.  They 
have  no  right  to  it  now,  never  have  had  a  right 
to  it,  and  I  intend  to  fight  for  the  restoration  of 
the  land  to  the  public  domain  where  it  belongs." 

Rambo  whistled. 

"  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  you've  had  a  good  start 
in  this  House.  Don't  run  out  on  a  little  thing 
like  this  and  gum  yourself  all  up  before  you  get 
into  the  game.  Forget  this,  I  tell  you,  and  I'm 
telling  you  for  your  own  good.  If  you  don't  like 
the  bill  stay  away  from  the  meeting  when  it  is 
considered,  or  come  in,  make  your  spiel,  and  take 
your  medicine  without  exposing  yourself  to  the 
whole  outside  world  as  a  kicker.  I  tell  you  the 
powers  are  for  this  bill.  Do  you  get  that?  The 
organisation  wants  it.  Keep  off  now  and  play  the 
game.  It  doesn't  hurt  you  —  not  a  bit.  You 
can't  prevent  its  report  with  a  favourable  recom 
mendation,  and  you  can't  stop  it  from  going 
through  the  House.  All  you'll  do  will  be  to  ex 
cite  suspicion  about  your  dependableness  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  who  at  present  think  well  of 
you.  Don't  ruin  yourself  this  way.  I'm  talking 
to  you  now  for  your  own  good.  Forget  it." 

"  I've  decided  to  fight  it,"  said  Marsh. 


126  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Oh,  well,"  said  Rambo,  walking  away,  "  that 
part  of  it  is  up  to  you.  You  will  only  hurt  your 
self  and  not  harm  the  bill,  you  know.  It  will  be 
reported  and  passed.  That's  all  arranged,  and 
you  will  get  a  devil  of  a  licking,  and  a  humiliating 
one,  and  hurt  yourself  for  years  to  come." 

"  I'll  take  my  chances  with  the  people,"  said 
Marsh  vehemently. 

Rambo  laughed.  "  The  people  won't  have 
much  to  say  about  it,"  he  called  back  over  his 
shoulder. 

The  chairman  called  up  the  bill  promptly  next 
day,  after  the  committee  met,  and  looked  inquir 
ingly  at  Marsh.  Marsh  saw  there  was  a  full 
committee  present.  Every  member  was  on  hand. 
He  wondered  about  that,  for  most  committee 
meetings  were  slimly  attended.  He  did  not 
know  the  chairman  and  Rambo  had  notified  every 
body  to  be  there  that  morning  to  help  squelch 
this  bumptious  young  person  who  had  the  temer 
ity  to  protest  against  a  committee  action  that  was 
favoured  by  nearly  all  the  members. 

Marsh  rose.  The  question  was  on  the  favour 
able  report  of  the  bill  and  the  recommendation  for 
passage. 

He  spoke  for  half  an  hour,  carefully  going  into 
the  history  of  the  land  operations  referred  to  in 
the  bill,  showing  how  the  land  had  been  fenced 
illegally,  and  how  after  many  years  the  matter 
had  been  made  public  officially.  He  deprecated 
any  connivance  on  the  part  of  the  committee  with 
this  larceny  of  public  domain,  referred  feelingly 


THE  BOLT  127 

to  the  rights  of  the  people  in  the  matter  and  was 
eloquent  and  forceful.  It  was  a  good  speech. 
Byron  backed  him  up  in  a  fifteen-minute  talk. 

The  members  of  the  committee  sat  smoking, 
looking  rather  bored,  and  when  Marsh  had 
finished  with  the  threat  that  he  would  present  a 
minority  report  on  the  bill,  disclose  its  iniquity  to 
the  country  and  make  a  fight  on  the  floor  of  the 
House,  they  grinned.  After  Byron  had  finished 
the  chairman  asked  if  any  other  member  of  the 
committee  had  anything  to  say.  He  was  rather 
contemptuous  about  it.  No  other  member  said 
anything,  except  Rambo,  who  cried:  "  Vote!  " 

The  vote  was  taken  and  a  favourable  report  on 
the  bill  was  ordered,  with  every  member  in  the 
affirmative  except  Marsh,  Byron  and  Rochester, 
who  wavered  a  bit,  but  finally  joined  Marsh  and 
Byron.  The  remaining  business  was  quickly 
transacted  and  the  committee  adjourned. 

"  Take  your  medicine,  Marsh,"  admonished 
Rambo,  as  they  walked  out  of  the  room. 

That  afternoon  Senator  Paxton  strolled  over 
to  the  House,  went  in  and  sat  down  beside  Marsh, 
who  was  listening  to  a  debate  on  an  appropriation 
bill.  Marsh  saw  him  coming  and  braced  himself 
for  the  encounter. 

Paxton  was  genial  and  affable.  He  apparently 
didn't  have  a  care  in  the  world.  He  teetered  back 
and  forth  in  the  chair  he  had  taken  and  nodded 
to  Marsh. 

"  I  just  happened  by  and  thought  I'd  revisit 
the  scenes  of  my  former  triumphs,"  he  said. 


128  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Haven't  seen  much  of  you  lately.  How  are 
you?" 

"  Fine,"  Marsh  replied;  "  but  pretty  busy." 

Paxton  smiled  again.  "  It  seems,"  he  said 
pleasantly,  "  that  I  didn't  do  such  a  stroke  of 
business  after  all  when  I  got  you  a  place  on  the 
Lands  Committee." 

"  What  do  you  mean?  "  Marsh  asked,  his  face 
hardening. 

"  Oh,"  the  senator  replied,  as  if  it  were  a  mat 
ter  of  slight  consequence,  "  I  imagined  you  were 
regular  and  would  play  the  game.  They  tell  me 
you're  kicking  against  a  bill  that  is  calculated  to 
help  some  very  good  friends  of  ours  out  of  a 
hole." 

"  It's  a  dishonest  bill." 

"  Tush,  tush,  Marsh !  "  said  Paxton  gently. 
'*  Remember  what  I  told  you  about  branding 
things  dishonest  simply  because  you  don't  agree 
with  them.  That's  too  cheap  for  you.  Now,  as 
I  understand  it,  the  Government  hasn't  had  this 
land  for  years  and  these  fellows  intend  to 
straighten  it  all  out.  They  are  friends  of  ours, 
you  know,  and  it  is  up  to  us  to  help  them.  What 
do  you  intend  to  do?  " 

"  I  shall  make  a  minority  report  on  the  bill  and 
carry  my  fight  to  the  floor  of  the  House." 

"  Marsh,"  said  the  senator,  "  did  you  ever  by 
any  chance  watch  one  of  those  big  steamrollers  at 
work  fixing  the  asphalt  in  this  town?  Well,  my 
son,  you'll  look  and  feel  as  if  one  of  those  rollers 
• —  the  biggest  one  —  had  run  over  you  and 


THE  BOLT  129 

squashed  you  into  tar  by  the  time  they  get  through 
with  you." 

"  That  makes  no  difference  to  me,"  protested 
Marsh.  "  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  oppose  this  bill." 

"  Far  be  it  from  me  to  interfere  with  your 
sense  of  duty  in  this  trifling  matter  further  than  to 
suggest  that  there  is  a  higher  duty  concerned  than 
you  seem  to  have  discovered.  I  refer  to  your 
duty  to  yourself,  to  your  career,  to  your  stay  in 
public  life.  This  bill  is  an  unimportant  matter 
and  the  organisation  is  for  it  — " 

"  I  fail  to  see  why  it  is  so  unimportant  when  all 
the  machinery  of  this  Congress  seems  to  be 
moving  to  get  it  through,"  said  Marsh. 

"  Oh,  well,"  smiled  Paxton,  "  it's  all  in  the 
viewpoint,  of  course.  If  you  think  you  cannot 
possibly  exist  without  getting  a  little  notoriety  out 
of  your  opposition  to  this  bill  I  don't  know  that 
anything  I  can  say  will  prevent  you  from  taking  the 
jump.  I  merely  wanted  to  warn  you  that  it  will 
be  held  up  against  you.  The  organisation  doesn't 
forget." 

"  I'll  take  my  chances,"  said  Marsh. 

"  Well  and  good,  only  why  not  leave  the  reser 
vation  on  something  that's  worth  while?  Why 
piddle  around  on  this  little  bill  instead  of  grabbing 
a  big  issue?  " 

"  This  is  big  enough.  It  has  the  whole  machine 
back  of  it." 

"  Good  luck  to  you,"  said  Paxton  cheerily,  as  he 
rose  to  go.  "  I'll  come  over  to  hear  your  speech. 
I  suppose  you  are  going  to  make  a  speech?  " 


1 30  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  I  surely  am,"  replied  Marsh,  and  Paxton 
walked  jauntily  away. 

Byron  and  Rochester  joined  Marsh  in  a  vigor 
ous  minority  report  on  the  bill,  a  report  that  con 
demned  it  unsparingly.  The  majority  report  was 
brief.  It  recommended  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
but  gave  no  special  reason  except  that  the  com 
mittee  thought  the  measure  just  and  equitable. 
The  bill  went  on  the  calendar,  and  one  afternoon 
was  called  up  by  the  chairman  of  the  committee. 
Marsh  had  been  preparing  himself.  He  had 
worked  hard  over  a  speech  and  he  was  ready. 
He  moved  the  substitution  of  the  minority  for  the 
majority  report,  and  the  question  came  on  the  sub 
stitution.  Three  hours  were  allotted  for  debate, 
an  hour  and  a  half  to  each  side,  and  Marsh 
rose. 

He  was  in  fine  form.  He  had  determined  to 
make  a  great  effort.  Word  had  gone  out  that  the 
majority  was  squabbling  over  a  bill,  and  there  was 
a  good  attendance  of  members,  while  the  press 
gallery  held  a  large  number  of  correspondents 
who  had  come  in  to  see  if  there  was  an  interesting 
paragraph  in  this  fight  of  a  young  member  against 
the  organisation.  He  spoke  for  his  full  hour  and 
a  half.  He  explained  the  bill,  showed  its  illegal 
ity,  went  into  the  history  of  landgrabbing  in  the 
West,  scored  the  landgrabbers,  was  cautious  in  his 
references  to  the  committee,  but  made  it  plain 
enough  that  the  organisation  was  for  the  bill  for 
political  reasons,  because  the  landgrabbers  were 
strong  politically,  and  his  peroration  was  the  best 


THE  BOLT  131 

thing  he  had  ever  done.  It  was  eloquent,  but  not 
flowery.  It  was  delivered  with  much  dramatic 
force  and  with  all  the  elocutionary  graces  at  his 
command. 

The  House  was  filled  and  the  press  gallery 
crowded.  Marsh's  references  to  the  dangers  he 
was  braving,  dangers  of  opposition  from  the  or 
ganisation  of  his  own  party,  were  loudly  cheered, 
by  the  minority  especially  when  he  exclaimed  fer 
vently  that  he  knew  he  was  right,  and  that  he  was 
content  to  leave  his  case  in  the  hands  of  the  high 
est  court  —  the  people. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  used  only  fifteen 
minutes  of  his  time,  explaining  the  bill  and  laying 
stress  on  the  fact  that  all  but  three  members  of 
the  committee  were  for  it,  as  the  report  showed. 
Then  he  asked  for  the  question. 

There  was  a  demand  for  a  division  and  tellers 
were  appointed.  Although  a  good  many  of  the 
Democrats  voted  with  Marsh  on  the  broad,  gen 
eral  theory  that  it  is  always  good  politics  to  help 
along  discord  in  the  opposition,  Marsh  rallied 
only  a  dozen  members  of  his  own  party  and  was 
overwhelmingly  defeated.  The  majority  report 
was  adopted  and  the  House  went  into  considera 
tion  of  the  bill.  Debate  was  perfunctory  and  the 
bill  was  passed  without  a  division.  Marsh  left 
soon  after  his  defeat.  Rambo  caught  up  with  him 
in  the  corridor. 

;'  Well,"  said  Rambo,  "  you  see  what  happened. 
That  sets  you  back  into  the  nine  hole  all  right." 

"  I  don't  give  a  damn!  "  exclaimed  Marsh. 


132  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  But  you  will  in  a  week  or  so,"  insisted  Rambo; 
"  after  you  wake  up." 

Marsh  was  well  pleased  with  himself  next  morn 
ing.  The  Washington  correspondents  of  the  big 
papers  in  his  state  had  been  to  see  him  and  had 
sent  out  stories  praising  him  for  his  fight,  and  the 
Washington  papers  gave  a  column  each  to  it. 
Marsh's  particular  newspaper  friend  told  him  the 
correspondents  had  handled  the  story  quite  gener 
ously,  and  when  the  New  York  papers  came 
Marsh  saw  they  each  had  dispatches  on  it,  ranging 
in  length  from  a  quarter  of  a  column  in  the  papers 
that  supported  the  Administration  to  a  full  column 
in  the  opposition  papers. 

Nevertheless,  many  of  his  friends  in  the  organ 
isation  told  him  he  had  ruined  himself  by  his  pro 
test,  and  as  the  newspaper  mention  of  his  fight 
ceased  in  the  news  columns  on  the  second  day,  he 
was  rather  downcast  and  wondered  if  he  had  made 
a  mistake.  A  few  days  later  the  press-clipping 
bureaus  began  to  send  him  clippings  of  the  edito 
rial  comments  on  the  fight  throughout  the  country, 
and  he  took  heart  again.  He  was  almost  univer 
sally  supported  and  commended  for  his  stand. 


XII 


A   LITTLE   DINNER   PARTY 

MRS.  MARSH  had  been  in  the  mem- 
bers'  gallery  in  the  House  on  the  day 
her  husband  made  his  speech,  and 
was  much  elated  over  his  success  as 
an  orator,  although  downcast  because  of  the 
trifling  results  he  obtained.  She  regained  her 
confidence  when  she  read  the  newspaper  clippings, 
and  quoted  to  her  friends  several  of  the  editorial 
paragraphs  that  referred  to  Marsh  as  a  "  sturdy 
and  independent  young  member  who  will  make  his 
mark  "  as  if  she  had  inspired  the  whole  proceed 
ing.  The  fact  was  she  had  advised  against  it  on 
the  one  occasion  when  Marsh  took  her  into  his  con 
fidence.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  already  experienced 
enough  in  Washington  affairs  to  know  the  value 
of  regularity,  and  she  was  slavish  in  her  observance 
of  the  social  conventions. 

The  Marshes  had  found  the  new  hotel  to  be 
stiffer  and  more  formal  than  the  Bruxton,  which 
simply  denoted,  to  the  mind  of  Mrs.  Marsh,  that 
it  was  advanced  socially  over  the  Bruxton,  and  she 
cultivated  assiduously  the  women  who  lived  in 
the  hotel.  There  were  several  wives  of  senators 
there,  and  the  wives  of  representatives  she  met  in 

133 


134          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  hotel  were  distinctly  more  fashionable  than 
those  at  the  other  place.  They  had  given  a  re 
ception  or  two,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  was  planning  one 
for  herself.  She  had  assisted  at  another  of  Mrs. 
Paxton's  affairs,  this  time  not  a  state  function,  and 
she  felt  she  was  gradually  coming  into  her  own. 

She  was  firm  in  her  conviction  that  the  future  of 
Marsh  lay  largely  in  her  hands,  and  she  was  de 
termined  to  push  him  forward  by  pushing  herself 
forward.  She  had  heard  stories  of  extremely 
clever  wives  who  had  advanced  the  positions  of 
their  husbands  by  their  genius  at  entertaining, 
their  knowledge  of  politics  and  their  skill  at 
getting  influential  persons  at  work,  and  she  re 
solved  to  emulate  these  shining  examples.  Peo 
ple  told  her  of  the  wife  of  one  of  the  army 
officers,  who  had  not  only  kept  her  husband  sta 
tioned  in  Washington  on  departmental  duty  for 
ten  years,  but  had  secured  several  promotions  for 
him,  because  she  was  smart  enough  to  cultivate  the 
wives  of  his  superiors  socially  and  to  pay  assidu 
ous  court  to  those  who  could  help  her  in  her  cam 
paign  and  could  recommend  her  husband  for  pro 
motion  and  detached  duty.  They  related  in 
stances  of  social  influence  that  had  reached  the 
White  House  even,  and  told  tales  of  dinners  where 
great  men  gathered  at  charming  boards  and  dis 
cussed  affairs  of  state,  while  the  hostess  advanced 
her  husband  because  of  what  she  came  to  know 
and  the  information  she  could  give  him  of  forth 
coming  events. 

All  this  was  sweet  music  to  the  ears  of  Mrs. 


A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY       13$ 

Marsh,  who  felt  she  was  capable  of  just  as  much 
as  any  woman  who  lived  in  Washington.  She 
had  faith  in  her  husband.  She  was  thoroughly 
selfish  about  it,  however,  for  she  had  no  idea  of 
remaining  in  the  background.  She  resolved  to 
triumph  with  her  husband.  She  would  be  the 
great  Mrs.  Marsh,  the  wife  of  the  great  Mr. 
Marsh.  She  was  talking  on  this  strain  one  after 
noon  to  Mrs.  Lyster,  a  sweet  and  motherly 
woman,  the  wife  of  a  senator,  who  had  lived  in 
Washington  for  twenty  years,  and  who  preferred 
books  to  society,  and  the  companionship  of  a  few 
other  women  of  her  own  age  to  the  general  rout, 
although  she  was  punctilious  in  her  observance  of 
those  social  duties  that  devolved  upon  her. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Lyster,  "  I  have  heard  those 
stories  ever  since  I  have  been  in  Washington,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  them  are  true.  But 
I  have  found  it  to  be  the  general  rule  that  a  wife, 
in  this  atmosphere,  can  best  help  her  husband  by 
taking  care  of  him  rather  than  by  trying  to  advance 
him.  If  a  woman  keeps  her  husband  in  a  cheer 
ful  frame  of  mind,  looks  after  his  comfort,  sees 
that  he  is  well  fed  and  mothers  him,  she  will  do 
more  toward  advancing  him  than  she  will  by  in 
triguing  through  social  efforts  or  otherwise." 

Mrs.  Marsh  looked  shocked. 

"  I  am  quite  well  aware,"  continued  Mrs.  Lyster 
comfortably,  "  that  this  isn't  the  present-day  view 
or  the  Washington  view,  but  it  has  been  my  ex 
perience  that  in  most  cases  these  strivings  on  the 
part  of  wives  to  advance  their  husbands  are  not 


i36          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

so  much  for  the  sake  of  the  husband  as  for  the 
sake  of  the  wife.  I  mean  by  that  that  the  wife 
is  ambitious  to  shine  socially,  and  that  her  oppor 
tunity  for  shining  increases  in  exact  ratio  to  the 
luminous  qualities  of  her  husband.  I  guess,  when 
you  figure  it  out,  that  the  woman  who  is  advancing 
her  husband  thinks  twice  about  her  own  consequent 
advancement  to  once  of  what  she  is  doing  for  her 
husband.  She  works  for  herself  through  him." 

"  Why,  Mrs.  Lyster !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Marsh; 
"  I  don't  think  that  is  true.  I  know,  for  example, 
I  am  thoroughly  unselfish  in  the  case  of  James.  I 
shall  be  content  to  remain  in  the  background  if  he 
can  succeed,  and  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  help  him. 
That  is  my  sole  idea." 

Mrs.  Lyster  smiled  comfortably  again.  "  Of 
course,  my  dear,"  she  said,  "  I  know  you  are  the 
exception.  But  what  I  want  to  say  is  this:  A 
woman  can't  help  a  man  do  anything  that  is  a 
man's  to  do.  She  can  keep  him  comfortable,  air 
his  bed,  see  to  his  linen  and  his  meals,  preserve 
his  cheerfuln-ess,  but  his  work  is  his  own  work  and 
she  can't  help  him.  She  may  push  him  forward 
a  little,  but  unless  he  has  it  in  him  to  keep  ahead 
she  cannot  hold  him  there  for  any  length  of  time. 

"  No,  a  woman  can't  help  a  man  do  anything 
he  has  to  do  as  a  man;  but  there  is  one  thing  she 
can  do  —  she  can  make  him  feel  his  dependence 
on  her.  It  makes  no  difference  how  much  a  man 
may  be  praised,  how  many  may  flatter  him  for 
some  accomplishment  or  some  speech  or  some 
action,  if  the  one  woman  says :  '  Oh,  piffle !  '  when 


A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY       137 

he  comes  to  her,  all  the  rest  of  the  adulation 
counts  for  nothing.  Conversely,  if  everybody 
condemns  and  the  one  woman  tells  him  it  is  well, 
that  he  has  succeeded,  despite  the  almost  universal 
verdict  he  walks  down  the  street  with  his  chest 
thrown  out  and  his  head  high  in  the  air,  for 
nothing  else  matters.  That,  I  assume,"  she  con 
cluded,  "  is  heresy  in  the  present  day,  and  espe 
cially  in  the  present  Washington  day,  but  it  is  my 
opinion.  Shall  we  have  some  tea?  " 

Mrs.  Marsh  did  not  tell  her  husband  of  the 
old-fashioned  views  of  Mrs.  Lyster,  although  she 
did  remark  that  she  considered  Mrs.  Lyster  archaic 
in  her  ideas. 

"Why?"  asked  Marsh.  "I  thought  her  an 
extremely  cultured  woman." 

"  Oh,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh,  dismissing  the  sub 
ject,  "  she  has  a  curious,  old-fashioned  viewpoint." 

Marsh  was  living  from  hand  to  mouth.  He 
had  just  about  enough  money  to  pay  his  current 
expenses,  which  included  some  rather  heavy  dress 
bills  of  Mrs.  Marsh's.  He  thought  one  or  twice 
of  taking  a  flyer  in  the  stock  market,  but  he  was 
deterred  by  his  lack  of  knowledge  of  inside  con 
ditions.  Rambo  was  polite,  but  made  no  ad 
vances.  Marsh  felt  he  had  alienated  Rambo  as 
well  as  Senator  Paxton  by  his  action  on  the  land 
bill,  and  was  greatly  surprised  one  morning  to  find 
in  his  mail  an  invitation  from  the  leader  of  the 
Senate  asking  Marsh  to  dine  with  him.  Marsh 
couldn't  understand  that.  He  went  over  to  the 
Senate  and  asked  Senator  Paxton  what  it  meant. 


138  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  It  means  he  wants  you  to  have  dinner  with 
him,  I  should  gather  from  the  general  tenor  of 
the  invitation,"  said  Paxton. 

"But  why?" 

"  Lordy!  Lordy !  "  laughed  Paxton,  "  have  you 
got  into  that  condition  of  mind  where  you  suspect 
an  ulterior  motive  in  everything  that  happens  in 
Washington?  Surely  your  well-known  independ 
ent  principles  " —  there  was  a  gentle  sarcasm 
about  this  that  made  Marsh  wince  — "  do  not 
preclude  your  breaking  bread  with  the  leader  of 
the  Senate,  who  is  not  only  a  fine  fellow  but  a 
wonderful  host." 

"  Of  course  not,"  stammered  Marsh;  "  only — " 

"  Oh,  my  son,"  broke  in  the  senator,  "  do  not 
take  yourself  so  seriously.  If  he  didn't  want  to 
meet  you  and  have  you  there  he  wouldn't  ask  you. 
He  isn't  trying  to  put  anything  over  on  you.  You 
are  one  of  a  company.  Do  you  know,"  he  con 
tinued,  after  a  pause  wherein  he  laughed  frankly 
at  Marsh,  "  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand 
why  it  is  when  a  man  in  public  life  begins  to  think 
he  is  out  crusading  to  get  or  restore  some  rights 
for  the  people,  when  he  thinks  he  has  a  brief  for 
the  great  toiling  masses,  that  he  immediately  loses 
all  sense  of  perspective,  all  sense  of  humour,  and 
becomes  as  serious  as  the  multiplication  table  is  to 
a  small  boy,  and  that  is  the  most  serious  thing  we 
know. 

;<  What  is  there  about  this  uplift  propaganda 
that  sets  the  eyes  of  the  uplifters,  changes  them 
from  reasonable  human  beings  to  fanatics  who 


139 

continually  cry  out  against  everybody  who  does 
not  agree  with  them,  and  urges  them  to  arrogate 
all  the  honesty  and  all  the  pureness  of  motive  to 
themselves?  Why  does  the  man  who  takes  up 
the  cause  of  the  people  become  so  intense  an 
egoist  that  he  cannot  see  any  good  in  anybody  but 
himself?  What's  the  matter  with  them  that  life 
so  suddenly  assumes  so  sombre  a  hue,  that  the 
blue  goes  out  of  the  sky,  the  colour  out  of  the 
flowers,  the  warmth  out  of  the  sun,  and  all  is  lost 
save  for  them,  by  them  and  in  them?  Is  it  a 
disease  or  is  it  a  pose  that  goes  with  that  par 
ticular  game?  " 

"  I  hadn't  thought  of  it  that  way,"  said  Marsh 
stiffly. 

"  Of  course  not,  for  you  are  beginning  to  think 
you  are  an  uplifter  yourself.  For  Heaven's  sake 
get  down  to  earth !  It  may  be  that  we  organisa 
tion  fellows  are  villains  —  it  may  be,  I  say  —  cer 
tainly  the  uplifters  claim  we  are,  but  I'll  let  you 
in  on  one  thing,  and  that  is  that  we're  cheerful, 
human,  interesting  villains  and  a  darned  sight 
better  lot  of  fellows  than  the  crowd  you  are  pre 
paring  to  train  with,  and  that  goes  for  every  hu 
man  attribute,  too,  even  if  some  of  us  can't  see 
that  the  country  is  going  to  wreck  and  ruin  because 
we  are  in  power.  It  isn't  necessary  to  be  a  grouch 
or  a  recluse,  just  because  you  think  you  are  a  fine, 
young  inspired  crusader,  although  most  of  you 
are  both.  And  it  isn't  necessary  to  associate  ex 
clusively  with  your  own  kind,  which  seems  to  be 
the  rule,  although  I  must  confess  that  it  is  only 


140  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

among  your  own  kind  you'll  find  persons  who  will 
take  you  as  seriously  as  you  take  yourselves,  which 
may  be  the  reason.  Of  course  you'll  accept  the 
invitation.  You'll  find  a  lot  of  good  fellows 
there,  men  worth  knowing,  whether  you  agree 
with  them  or  not.  I'm  going  myself." 

Marsh  accepted.  When  he  told  Mrs.  Marsh 
she  was  much  cast  down  because  it  was  to  be  a 
man's  dinner  and  she  couldn't  go,  but,  she  asserted, 
she  was  quite  certain  the  reason  Marsh  was  in 
vited  was  because  she  had  called  twice  on  the 
host's  wife,  and  had  received  cards  from  her,  via 
her  footman,  on  a  reception  day  at  their  hotel. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  feeling  her  responsibilities. 
She  had  early  learned  the  value  of  publicity,  and 
kept  in  constant  communication  with  the  society 
editors  of  the  various  papers  in  Washington,  send 
ing  them  minute  accounts  of  her  various  activities, 
which  they  generally  printed  along  with  columns 
of  other  details  sent  in  by  other  equally  ambitious 
women.  Once,  through  the  friendly  intervention 
of  a  woman  who  knew  the  society  editor  of  a  Sun 
day  paper,  she  had  had  her  picture  printed,  with 
the  pictures  of  several  other  ladies,  on  Sunday 
morning  in  the  society  page,  as  "  one  of  the  charm 
ing  hostesses  at  the  Dewilton  Hotel."  She  bought 
fifty  copies  of  the  paper  and  sent  them  to  people 
in  Morganville,  which  might  have  had  something 
to  do  with  the  printing  of  the  picture,  although 
she  never  thought  of  that. 

The  dinner  was  rather  important.  There  were 
about  thirty  guests  —  senators,  House  leaders,  a 


A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY       141 

cabinet-member  or  two  and  half  a  dozen  big  busi 
ness  men  from  New  York,  mostly  connected  with 
financial  interests,  who  seemed  to  know  everybody 
there  but  Marsh  and  one  or  two  others  of  as  recent 
date  as  he  was.  The  host  lived  in  a  great  house 
on  a  fashionable  street,  the  service  was  perfect, 
the  food  all  that  could  be  desired  and  the  wines 
beyond  criticism.  To  the  great  astonishment  of 
Marsh  no  politics  was  talked  at  the  dinner. 
There  was  only  a  general  conversation.  Two  or 
three  of  the  guests  were  good  story  tellers,  and 
were  eagerly  besought  to  retail  their  stock  of  anec 
dotes.  The  laughter  became  a  little  heartier  along 
toward  the  close  of  the  dinner,  but  that  was  the 
only  evidence  of  the  effect  of  the  wine.  Marsh 
sought  a  chance,  and  during  a  lull  told  a  funny 
story  himself.  He  was  instantly  hailed  as  an  ad 
vantageous  adjunct  to  the  party,  urged  to  tell  more 
stories,  which  he  did,  having  a  stock  of  them  and 
knowing  how  to  bring  out  the  points,  and  when 
the  dinner  was  over  and  they  had  gone  to  the 
library  to  smoke  their  second  cigars  before  leav 
ing,  the  host  brought  up  the  New  York  business 
men  and  introduced  them  to  Marsh,  mentioning 
him  as  "  a  brilliant  young  Republican  from  the 
West."  He  also  met  several  senators  he  had  not 
met  before. 

There  was  an  air  of  good  fellowship  over  it  all. 
One  of  the  New  York  business  men  had  a  voice 
and  sang  lively  songs.  A  senator,  of  whom 
Marsh  had  been  reading  for  years  as  one  of  the 
party  leaders  and  a  great  power,  recited  a  long 


142 

humorous  poem  with  great  declamatory  effect,  and 
Marsh  found  to  his  astonishment  that  these  men 
joked  and  joshed  one  another  on  affairs  and  pro 
jects  and  policies  he  considered  of  the  gravest  im 
port,  and  larked  about  as  if  there  were  no  such 
place  as  the  Capitol.  The  man  who  could  get  the 
stiffest  joke  on  another  man  was  the  momentary 
hero,  and  there  was  no  regard  for  feelings,  no  def 
erence  to  dignity. 

Marsh  had  expected  there  would  be  speeches 
and  had  prepared  himself  for  a  five-minutes 
talk,  thinking  he  might  be  called  upon  —  rather 
expecting  it,  in  fact,  in  view  of  his  recent  big 
speech;  and  he  was  disappointed  when  the  sen 
ator  who  afterward  recited  the  humorous  poem, 
as  soon  as  they  were  seated  at  dinner  called  to 
the  host:  "Look  here,  Charley,  how  about  it? 
No  speeches,  I  take  it?" 

"  Not  a  speech,"  the  host  replied. 

The  senator  who  asked  the  question  rose  at  his 
place  and  said:  "  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the 
decision.  No  speeches.  A  vote  of  thanks  is  in 
order." 

"  Let's  drink  to  his  health,  and  may  fye  never 
break  this  rule  at  his  dinners,"  said  another. 

So  they  drank  to  that  proposition  with  cheers, 
but  Marsh  felt  that  he  had  been  deprived  of  an 
opportunity. 

The  New  York  business  men  chatted  with  him 
for  a  few  minutes.  They  talked  on  general  topics. 
They  said  they  hoped  they  might  be  better  ac 
quainted,  and  were  pleasant  and  affable  and  did 


A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY       143 

not  look  like  custodians  of  the  fearsome  Money 
Demon  at  all.  In  fact  they  appeared  to  be  clean- 
cut,  affable,  modest  men,  not  ogres  or  predaceous 
plutocrats.  Not  one  of  them  looked  like  Marsh's 
preconceived  ideas  of  a  Captain  of  High  Finance. 
Marsh  told  his  wife,  when  he  reached  the  hotel, 
he  had  had  a  very  pleasant  evening. 

A  week  or  so  later  Senator  Paxton  gave  a  dinner 
and  asked  Marsh.  There  were  fourteen  guests, 
four  of  the  same  business  men  from  New  York 
who  had  dined  with  the  Senate  leader  and  the  re 
mainder  senators  and  representatives.  Several 
members  besides  Marsh  who  had  been  at  the  pre 
vious  dinner  were  there.  The  amusement  after 
dinner  was  poker.  Two  games,  seven  at  a  table, 
were  organised.  Marsh  felt  nervous  over  this, 
for  he  had  little  money  to  lose  and  he  imagined 
the  game  would  be  a  big  one.  He  soon  discovered 
that  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  is  a  millionaire 
doesn't  necessarily  mean  he  is  either  a  prodigal  or 
a  producer  at  poker.  The  richest  men  played 
most  cautiously,  and  were  derided  by  the  poorer 
ones  for  holding  the  cards  so  close.  The  game 
was  five-dollar  limit,  all  jack-pots,  with  the  dealer 
anteing  each  time.  When  four  of  a  kind  were 
held  there  was  a  round  of  "  roodles,"  which  meant 
the  limit  was  increased  to  ten  dollars  on  that 
round. 

Marsh  knew  poker  fairly  well,  and  he  decided 
to  take  no  long  chances,  but  to  play  his  cards  for 
no  more  than  they  were  worth  and  to  watch  things 
carefully.  He  had  heard  stones  of  poker  games 


i44          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

in  Washington  where  innocent  members  were  in 
veigled  in  and  bribed  by  crafty  villains  who  lost 
large  sums  to  them  by  betting  on  small  hands. 
He  wondered  if  that  was  the  plot  for  him,  but  he 
soon  found  nobody  in  that  gathering  had  any  in 
tention  of  giving  any  money  to  him  unless  he  had 
the  cards  to  take  it  with,  and  mostly  when  he 
called  what  he  thought  was  a  bluff  he  found  his 
opponent  had  the  cards  to  justify  his  faith  and 
his  money.  It  was  a  noisy,  lively  game,  with  the 
players  joking  one  another  and  telling  stories,  and 
it  closed  promptly  at  midnight.  Each  man  had 
been  handed  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  chips, 
and  when  the  settlements  were  made  Marsh 
found  he  had  won  a  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars. 
Only  two  others  were  larger  winners  than  he. 

"  The  same  old  story,"  chaffed  Senator  Paxton, 
who  had  lost  three  hundred  dollars.  "  The  new 
man  always  wins.  But,"  he  said,  turning  to 
Marsh,  "  beware,  my  son,  for  we'll  hook  you  yet." 

Most  of  the  party  had  carriages  and  automo 
biles  waiting  outside,  but  Marsh  announced  he 
would  walk  to  his  hotel. 

"  I'll  walk  down  with  you,"  said  one  of  the 
New  Yorkers,  George  F.  Quicksall  by  name,  who 
was  connected  with  one  of  the  big  banking  com 
binations  of  New  York. 

Quicksall  talked  of  finance  as  they  walked  along 
and  Marsh  was  greatly  interested.  He  questioned 
Quicksall  on  some  points  in  relation  to  the  market. 

"Do  you  ever  do  anything  in  the  Street?" 
asked  Quicksall, 


A  LITTLE  DINNER  PARTY       145 

"  Not  much.  Occasionally  I  buy  a  few  shares 
of  stock.  Is  there  anything  interesting  over 
there?" 

Marsh  had  been  bursting  to  ask  this  ques 
tion  of  the  New  York  men  ever  since  he  met 
them.  He  wanted  money  and  he  wanted  it 
badly. 

"  Well,"  said  Quicksall,  "  I  know  of  a  pool  that 
is  being  organised  to  carry  a  few  thousand  shares 
of  a  certain  stock  for  a  ten-point  rise.  I  might 
get  you  some  of  that." 

"How  much  would  it  take?"  asked  Marsh 
eagerly. 

"  How  much  what?  " 

"  How  much  money?  " 

"  Oh,"  said  Quicksall  carelessly,  "  not  much,  as 
money  goes.  I  don't  know  exactly  yet  where  they 
will  take  the  stuff  over,  but  I'll  put  you  down  for 
a  thousand  shares  and  we  can  settle  afterward 
when  the  books  are  made  up." 

"A  thousand  shares?  "  gasped  Marsh. 

"  Yes,  that'll  be  about  a  tenth  of  it.  I  am  quite 
sure  my  associates  will  be  glad  to  have  you  in  with 


us." 


"  But,"  stammered  Marsh,  "  but  —  I  don't 
know  as —  That's  a  big  order — " 

Quicksall  looked  at  Marsh  curiously  as  they 
passed  a  street  lamp.  He  saw  Marsh  was  much 
excited,  but  palpably  afraid. 

"  I  am  quite  sure  it  will  be  all  right,  Mr. 
Marsh,"  said  Quicksall.  "  However  there's  no 
hurry.  Think  it  over  and  let  me  know.  If  you 


i46  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

don't  want  it  it  will  be  all  right " ;  and  he  gave 
Marsh  his  card. 

Marsh  slept  very  little  that  night.  He  was  try 
ing  to  figure  out  a  way  to  get  money  to  cover  his 
interest  in  case  the  speculation  failed.  In  his 
heart  he  knew  it  wouldn't  fail,  but  he  kept  that  in 
formation  away  from  his  head. 


XIII 

EASY   MONEY 

""1^^     "T"  ICE  party  we  had  last  night,"  said 

^^L  Senator  Paxton  to  Marsh  next  day 

^^      when    they    met    at    the    Capitol. 

-^-  ^  "  Pretty  lucky  to  get  away  with 
that  money,  too,  with  those  wolves  trying  to  eat 
you  up." 

"  I  noticed  they  played  them  pretty  close  to 
their  bosoms,"  Marsh  replied. 

"  Greatest  tightwads  in  the  world,"  said  Pax- 
ton,  "  with  the  exception  of  the  few  liberal  ones. 
Most  of  them  would  rather  lose  their  right  legs 
than  overplay  a  hand  or  lose  a  pot." 

"  By  the  way,  senator,"  asked  Marsh,  trying  to 
appear  as  if  the  question  was  merely  for  purpose 
of  gratifying  his  curiosity,  "  who's  Mr.  Quick 
sall?" 

"Quicksall?  Oh,  Quicksall  is  one  of  the 
junior  partners  in  the  big  house  of  Stunz  &  Stur- 
gess.  He's  a  likely  young  fellow  who  looks  out 
a  good  deal  for  legislative  matters  they  are  inter 
ested  in  and  is  a  comer.  Why?  " 

"  Oh,  nothing!  I  walked  down  with  him  last 
night  and  he  seems  to  be  a  nice  fellow." 

"  Wise,      too,"      commented      the      senator, 
J47 


i48  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"Knows  his  way  about.  He  made  a  lot  of  money 
for  me  not  long  ago." 

"  How?  "  asked  Marsh  eagerly. 

"  Put  me  in  on  an  underwriting  scheme  that 
split  $200,000,  and  I  got  a  tenth  of  it." 

"  How  much  did  you  have  to  put  up?  " 

"How  much  did  I  have  to  put  up?"  re 
peated  Paxton  in  surprise.  "  Why,  I  didn't  put 
up  anything.  I  merely  took  a  tenth  of  the  under 
writing  and  stood  to  lose  that  tenth  if  anything 
broke  or  went  wrong;  but  nothing  did  and  I  got 
my  share  of  the  profit  on  the  deal.  There's  one 
good  thing  about  Quicksall  —  he  doesn't  want  it 
all  himself.  He's  willing  to  split  now  and  then 
and  he's  mighty  popular  round  here." 

Marsh  was  reassured.  He  turned  the  conversa 
tion  to  another  channel,  but  when  he  walked  down 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  from  the  House,  after  ad 
journment,  he  dropped  into  Quicksall's  hotel  and 
told  him  he  would  take  a  chance  in  the  pool. 

"  All  right,"  said  Quicksall.  "  I  don't  think 
you  can  lose.  I'll  write  you  in  a  few  days  and  tell 
you  what  your  share  is." 

Quicksall  left  for  New  York  on  the  midnight 
train.  Five  days  later  Marsh  received  a  letter 
in  an  envelope  bearing  the  Stunz  &  Sturgess  im 
print.  He  opened  it  nervously.  There  was  a 
cheque  for  $6500  in  it  and  this  letter: 

"Dear  Mr.  Marsh:  I  found  when  I  returned 
"  to  New  York  that  matter  we  spoke  about  was 
"  much  nearer  action  than  I  had  supposed.  I 


EASY  MONEY  149 

"  put  you  in  for  a  thousand  shares,  assumed  the 
"  responsibility  on  what  you  had  told  me,  and  to- 
"  day  we  closed  out  at  a  seven-point  rise.  Your 
"  share  of  the  expense  is  $500,  and  I  beg  to  hand 
"  you  herewith  our  cheque  for  $6500.  Trusting 
"  this  will  be  satisfactory  to  you,  I  am, 
"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  GEORGE  F.  QUICKSALL." 

"  Trusting  this  will  be  satisfactory  to  you !  "  re 
peated  Marsh  to  himself  in  a  dazed  sort  of  a  way. 
"  I  wonder  if  there  ever  was  anything  quite  so 
satisfactory  to  anybody  on  this  earth  before?" 

Marsh  couldn't  keep  his  eyes  off  the  cheque. 
Those  figures,  $6500,  seemed  to  hypnotise  him. 
Three  times  he  put  it  in  his  pocketbook,  and  each 
time  he  took  it  out,  looked  at  it  again,  turned  it 
over,  held  it  up  to  the  light,  patted  it,  caressed  it. 
It  was  a  lifesaver  for  him.  He  was  short  of 
funds.  He  needed  money,  and  here  six  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars  dropped  into  his  lap.  He 
recalled  the  Biblical  story  of  manna  dropping  from 
Heaven.  He  was  a  lucky  man. 

But  was  he?  That  question  constantly  ob 
truded;  and  another:  Why  had  Quicksall,  a  man 
whom  he  had  met  but  twice,  done  this  thing  for 
him?  He  recalled  Senator  Paxton's  description 
of  him:  "  One  of  the  junior  partners  in  the  big 
house  of  Stunz  &  Sturgess.  He's  a  likely  young 
fellow,  who  looks  out  a  good  deal  for  legislative 
matters  they  are  interested  in  and  is  a  comer." 

Marsh  pondered  that :     "  Looks  out  for  legis- 


150          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

lative  matters  they  are  interested  in."  That  no 
doubt  was  the  explanation.  Quicksall  wanted  to 
put  Marsh  under  obligations  to  him.  And  if  he 
had  but  known  it  he  had  put  Marsh  under  tre 
mendous  obligations  to  him,  for  Marsh  needed 
cash,  needed  it  desperately.  Still  there  was  the 
other  side  of  it.  Could  Marsh  afford  to  take  the 
money  ?  It  was  certain  that  sooner  or  later  Quick 
sall  would  ask  for  his  pound  of  flesh.  He  would 
demand  a  return.  These  men,  thought  Marsh, 
are  not  philanthropists.  They  are  not  handing 
out  money  in  six-thousand-dollar  chunks  to  mem 
bers  of  Congress  who  are  temporarily  embar 
rassed  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  relieving  the  ne 
cessities  of  those  statesmen.  There  was  no  char 
ity  about  it.  It  wasn't  a  gift.  It  was  a  deliber 
ate  opening  of  negotiations  with  Marsh,  a  retainer 
for  services  to  be  rendered  in  the  future,  services 
that,  in  all  probability,  would  not  only  be  difficult 
to  perform  but  dangerous  politically.  Marsh  was 
no  child,  no  fool.  He  was  under  no  delusions  as 
to  the  nature  of  this  gift,  for  it  was  a  gift  with  a 
string  attached,  and  Marsh  saw  the  string.  He 
didn't  argue  that  side  of  it  much  with  himself. 
His  question  was  whether  in  the  circumstances  he 
could  afford  to  take  the  money.  How  much  would 
it  embarrass  him  in  the  future  ?  Would  it  be  safe  ? 
The  honesty  or  dishonesty  of  the  transac 
tion  didn't  figure  conspicuously  in  Marsh's  delib 
erations.  With  him  it  was  mainly  a  question  of 
expediency.  He  set  his  need  for  the  money  on 


EASY  MONEY  151 

the  one  side,  and  itemised  all  the  places  where 
parts  of  it  could  be  applied  with  advantage  to  him 
self  and  his  affairs.  On  the  other  side  he  placed 
the  danger  of  being  found  out,  the  strength  of  the 
hold  on  him  the  transaction  would  give  Quicksall, 
the  effect  it  might  have  on  him  politically  if  word 
that  he  was  taking  money  from  Wall  Street  got 
back  to  his  district,  where  Wall  Street  was  a 
synonym  for  Gehenna.  He  balanced  these  items, 
weighed  one  against  the  other,  felt  inclined  to 
send  the  cheque  back,  but  was  restrained  when  he 
saw  that  magic  "  $6500  "  and  thought  what  he 
could  do  with  the  cash. 

Another  thing  that  puzzled  him  was  why  they 
had  chosen  him  for  their  schemes.  His  only  ap 
pearance,  except  in  a  set  speech  or  two  on  a  na 
tional  policy  and  his  committee  work,  had  been  in 
opposition  to  the  organisation  when  he  fought  the 
landgrab  bill.  He  had  flattered  himself  he  had 
shown  a  real  independence  of  thought  and  action 
in  that  matter.  He  had  hoped  to  impress  on  the 
minds  of  the  leaders  of  the  organisation  that  he 
was  a  man  to  be  reckoned  with,  a  man  who  would 
not  blindly  follow  where  they  led,  but  who  would 
carve  out  a  way  for  himself  if  the  path  of  the  regu 
lars  was  not  to  his  liking.  He  even  had  visions 
of  becoming  a  great  opposition  leader,  of  voic 
ing  the  protest  of  the  people  against  this  con 
gressional  oligarchy,  and  here  he  was,  within  a 
month  of  his  first  real  exhibition  of  the  thought 
that  was  in  him,  in  receipt  of  a  cheque  for  $6500 


152  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

from  one  of  the  most  interested  of  the  interests, 
and  reluctant  to  send  back  the  cheque  and  declare 
his  independence,  his  refusal  to  be  bribed. 

Twice  Marsh  began  a  letter  to  Quicksall,  re 
turning  the  money,  not  angrily  but  pleasantly  in 
forming  Quicksall  he  was  mistaken  in  his  man  and 
that  he  never  took  money  for  which  he  had  not 
made  an  adequate  return.  Twice  the  alluring 
figures  on  the  cheque  held  him  back,  and  he  tore  up 
the  letters  and  returned  the  cheque  to  his  pocket- 
book.  He  was  thoroughly  uncomfortable,  and  he 
resolved  to  talk  with  Senator  Paxton  in  order  to 
get  the  viewpoint  of  a  man  who  undoubtedly  had 
taken  just  such  money  many  times  and  made  no 
secret  of  it. 

He  went  over  to  the  Senate  side  of  the  Capitol 
and  found  Paxton,  who  was  in  his  committee  room 
dictating  letters. 

"  Sit  down,  Marsh,  and  have  a  cigar,"  said  Pax- 
ton.  "  I'll  be  through  here  in  a  minute  or  two." 
Paxton  turned  to  his  stenographer  and  said: 
"  Take  this :  '  George  F.  Quicksall,  care  Stunz 
&  Sturgess.  My  dear  Quicksall  —  ' 

Paxton  was  dictating  in  an  ordinary  conversa 
tional  tone  and  was  paying  no  attention  to  Marsh's 
presence  in  the  room.  Marsh  listened.  He 
didn't  mean  to,  but  he  couldn't  help  it.  He  won 
dered  what  the  senator  had  to  say  to  Quicksall, 
and  although  he  tried  to  read  a  newspaper  he  felt 
himself  straining  his  ears  to  hear  what  the  letter 
contained. 


EASY  MONEY  153 

"  '  My  dear  Quicksall,'  "  continued  the  senator. 
"Got  that?  'I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of 
"  yesterday  with  inclosure.  I  am  glad  to  note 
"  that  our  venture  turned  out  so  satisfactorily.  I 
"  hear  you  were  generous  with  this  informa- 
"  tion  and  that  several  of  our  mutual  friends  were 
"  included  in  the  deal.  While  we  all  understand 
"  perfectly  that  this  action  on  your  part  was  predi- 
"  cated  on  no  motive  other  than  that  of  good-fel- 
"  low-ship,  I  can  assure  you  that  I  for  one  am  not 
"  indifferent  to  this  further  evidence  of  your  long- 
"  enjoyed  friendship,  and  shall  hope  to  see  you 
"  soon  in  person  in  order  that  I  may  have  an  op- 
"  portunity  to  express  my  thanks  by  word  of 
"  mouth.  With  sincere  regards,  I  am,  yours  faith- 
"  fully.'  " 

"  I'll  sign  that  myself,"  said  the  senator  to  his 
stenographer.  "  For  Heaven's  sake  see  that  it 
gets  in  my  personal  letters.  Last  week  you  sent 
out  a  letter  with  a  rubber-stamp  signature  that  was 
going  to  a  very  touchy  person,  and  I  had  the 
dickens  of  a  time  squaring  myself." 

"  It's  strange,"  Paxton  continued,  turning  to 
Marsh,  "  how  a  little  thing  like  that  will  raise 
trouble.  Of  course  you  know  how  many  letters 
come  into  a  place  like  this,  and  you  yourself  un 
doubtedly  have  a  series  of  form  replies  that  can 
be  typewritten  by  your  stenographer  and  sent  back 
with  a  rubber-stamp  signature  or  signed  by  the 
stenographer.  Well,  if  by  any  accident  a  rubber- 


154          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

stamped  letter  gets  to  a  man  who  thinks  he  is  en 
titled  to  a  real,  pen-and-ink  signature  from  me, 
he  is  much  more  insulted  than  he  would  be  if  I 
had  written  him  a  letter  in  my  own  copperplate 
handwriting  and  refused  his  request. 

"  The  ancient  but  crafty  philosopher  who  said: 
'  All  is  vanity,'  had  an  adequate  understanding  of 
the  situation.  It  is  my  experience,  Marsh,  that 
the  human  machine,  as  it  is  typed  in  this  country, 
has  two  predominating  attributes.  One  is  vanity 
and  the  other  is  incompetency.  Most  of  the  hu 
man  rabbits  with  whom  men  in  our  position  have 
to  deal  are  obsessed  of  two  ideas.  The  first  is 
that  they  are  much  more  important  than  they  really 
are  and  capable  of  doing  a  great  many  things  they 
cannot  by  any  possibility  do,  and  the  second  is  that 
somebody,  usually  me,  is  under  obligations  to  get 
them  the  chance  to  do  these  great  things.  The 
simple  expedient  of  going  out  and  getting  the 
chance  for  themselves  never  occurs  to  them. 

"  The  greatest  curse  that  ever  fell  on  this  world 
was  the  curse  of  using  influence  to  get  position  and 
to  hold  it.  It  is  as  old  as  history,  and  it  has 
reached  its  highest  development  in  these  United 
States  of  America.  Men  —  and  women  too  — 
who  might  do  something  of  their  own  initiative 
waste  years  in  trying  to  get  somebody  to  use  his 
influence  to  help  them.  The  thought  that  some 
merit  of  their  own  might  assist  never  gets  to  them. 
They  must  have  influence.  So  we  have  built  a 
government  wherein  the  man  who  can  bring  the 
greatest  pull  to  bear  is  the  man  who  gets  the  of- 


EASY  MONEY  155; 

fice,  not  the  man  who  deserves  it.  And  it  is  an. 
organised  affair.  A  political  organisation  is  noth 
ing  but  a  systematised,  crystallised  application  of 
influence.  The  scrubwoman  goes  to  the  organisa 
tion  for  influence  to  help  her  get  her  job,  or  to  some 
member  of  the  organisation  who  can  use  his  in 
fluence  on  some  other  member,  and  so  on  up  until 
the  whole  machine  is  interested;  and  so  does  a  man 
who  wants  to  be  an  ambassador.  And  the  blight 
of  it  all  is  that  most  of  those  who  can  get  influence 
lack  in  the  ability  they  should  have  to  be  worthy 
of  the  places  they  get. 

"  A  man  gets  a  place  through  some  pull  or 
other.  His  interest  isn't  in  doing  his  work  so 
that  he  may  hold  his  job,  but  in  holding  his  influ 
ence  so  he  may  hold  his  job.  We've  tried  to 
remedy  it  with  civil-service  reform,  and  we  haven't 
succeeded,  for  there  is  no  way  to  make  over  or 
change  human  nature  by  statute,  however  much 
various  brands  of  reformers  may  think  there  is. 
And  the  incompetency  of  these  half-educated,  half- 
baked,  wholly  irresponsible  people  appals  one. 
Their  only  idea  is  to  do  as  little  work  as  they  can 
for  their  money,  and  their  usual  attitude  is  that  of 
sullen  contempt  for  their  bosses  for  making  it  pos 
sible  for  them  to  get  their  pay  by  putting  them  to 
work.  It's  just  like  a  man  to  whom  you  lend 
money.  He  becomes  your  enemy  because  you  have 
done  something  for  him. 

"  But,  pshaw,  it's  as  old  as  the  race,  and  it  will 
be  there  when  the  end  comes.  Only  beware  of 
the  pest  with  a  grievance.  He  is  the  most  terri- 


156          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ble  outcome  of  the  whole  scheme  of  things. 
There  is  where  the  vanity  of  it  comes  in.  He 
thinks  his  petty  trouble  is  the  most  important  thing 
in  the  world,  and  maybe  it  is  to  him;  but  once  he 
gets  a  chance  to  exhibit  his  sores  and  find  a  little 
sympathy,  the  craving  to  have  those  sores  on  per 
petual  exhibition  grows  on  him  until  he  is  the  most 
frightful  bore  I  know  about.  I've  got  a  couple 
of  them  on  my  hands  now.  Don't  be  surprised  if 
you  read  in  the  papers  some  morning  that  Senator 
Paxton  ran  amuck  last  night  and  killed  a  few  per 
sons  who  had  been  in  consultation  with  him  every 
day  for  weeks. 

"  However,  how  are  you?  I've  just  been  writ 
ing  a  letter  to  Quicksall.  Did  he  let  you  in  on  that 
pool?  Good  thing  that.  Neat  little  cheque  came 
in  in  the  mail  this  morning.  Nice  boy,  Quicksall, 
and  he  never  asks  for  a  thing." 

"  Yes,"  said  Marsh,  "  he  put  me  in,  and  I  don't 
know  what  to  do  about-  it." 

"Don't  know  what  to  do  about  what?  " 

"  Why,  I  had  a  conversation  with  him  one 
night,  and  he  told  me  of  a  pool  that  was  forming 
to  buy  ten  thousand  shares  of  a  stock  —  he  didn't 
tell  me  what  stock — and  said  I  could  have  a 
tenth  of  it.  I  told  him  I  didn't  think  I  could 
swing  that  much,  and  he  said  he'd  carry  it  for  me 
for  a  time  until  I  made  up  my  mind.  Then  if  I 
didn't  take  it  no  harm  would  be  done.  This 
morning  I  got  a  letter  from  him  and  a  cheque  for 
$6500  as  my  share  of  a  pool  I  didn't  know  I  was 


EASY  MONEY  157, 

in  on  even,  to  say  nothing  of  having  put  up  no 
money." 

Paxton  laughed.  "  So  that's  it,  is  it?"  he 
asked.  "  You  feel  that  this  money  is  more  or 
less  of  a  gift?  " 

"  Exactly." 

'  Well,  perhaps  it  is,  if  you  look  at  it  in  that 
light,  but  you  want  to  remember  that  a  gift  that 
entails  obligation  is  a  gift  that  costs  the  giver 
something.  This  deal  didn't  cost  Quicksall  any 
thing,  except  the  mere  lending  of  his  name  to  the 
pool.  He  had  a  ten-thousand-share  part  of  it. 
If  he  chose  to  split  that  ten-thousand-share  part 
and  give  you  a  tenth  of  it,  say,  and  then  turn  over 
the  profits,  why  should  you  kick?  He  didn't  ask 
you  to  do  anything,  did  he?  " 

"No." 

"  You  wouldn't  do  anything  you  shouldn't  do 
if  he  did,  would  you?  " 

"  No." 

"  You  don't  hold  yourself  so  cheaply  that  a  lit 
tle  transaction  like  this  would  influence  you  in  any 
way  in  legislative  matters,  do  you?  " 

"  I  do  not,"  exclaimed  Marsh  emphatically. 

"Well  then,  where's  the  harm?  A  man  you 
meet  apparently  takes  a  liking  to  you.  It  comes 
his  way  to  do  you  a  little  favour,  and  he  does  it; 
and  you  sit  round,  mooching  and  grouching,  and 
thinking  he  is  trying  to  buy  you,  while  he  probably 
had  no  idea  in  his  head  other  than  to  be  a  good 
fellow." 


158  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  But,"  said  Marsh,  "  you  told  me  yourself  that 
he  looks  out  for  legislative  matters  for  his  firm." 

"  Certainly  he  does,  and  it's  up  to  him  to  be  on 
good  terms  with  the  men  who  legislate.  If  he 
can  do  a  turn  for  any  of  them  that's  business, 
just  as  it  is  business  when  a  New  York  merchant 
invites  a  buyer  from  Morganville  out,  feeds  him 
well  and  takes  him  to  a  show.  It's  all  one  — 
business.  He  wants  you  to  know  who  he  is  and 
to  be  his  friend  when  anything  comes  along  he  is 
interested  in.  He  isn't  trying  to  get  you  to  do 
anything  immoral  or  dishonest  or  against  your 
principles,  but  he  wants  you  to  be  his  friend,  and 
thinks,  perhaps,  he  may  have  a  shade  the  better  of 
it  when  it  comes  to  a  showdown.  If  he  doesn't 
get  that  shade  he  makes  no  protest.  He'll  never 
suggest  even  that  you  shall  do  anything  out  of  the 
way  for  him.  He's  merely  taking  a  sporting 
chance  on  making  you  his  friend,  and,  I  take  it, 
you  are  sport  enough  to  play  the  game,  epecially 
when  it  is  understood  on  both  sides  that  there  is 
no  obligation." 

"  But  there  will  be  an  obligation,"  protested 
Marsh. 

"  Nonsense !  Let  me  tell  you,  Marsh,  if 
George  Quicksall  or  any  other  man  of  his  stamp 
had  even  the  remotest  idea  they  could  buy  you  for 
sixty-five  hundred  dollars  they  wouldn't  buy  you 
if  they  could  get  you  for  ten  cents.  It's  proof 
they  think  they  can't  buy  you  when  they  let  you  in 
on  a  perfectly  legitimate  deal  like  this." 

"  That  side  of  it  hadn't  occurred  to  me,"  said 


EASY  MONEY  159 

Marsh,  who  could  see  the  figures  on  the  cheque 
— "  $6500." 

'  Well,  it's  so.     And  I  take  it  the  money  will 
come  in  handy?  " 

"  It  certainly  will." 

"  Then  stick  the  cheque  in  the  bank  and  think 
no  more  about  it.  I'm  going  down  now  to  de 
posit  mine.  Want  to  ride  with  me?  " 

"  No,"  said  Marsh,  "  I've  got  a  committee 
meeting." 

Notwithstanding  the  arguments  of  Senator  Pax- 
ton,  Marsh  was  uneasy  in  his  mind.  He  felt 
qualms  of  conscience.  He  felt  —  knew  —  Quick- 
sail  didn't  let  him  in  because  he  had  taken  a 
violent  fancy  to  him  after  meeting  him  twice.  He 
couldn't  understand  why  he  had  been  invited  to 
those  dinners.  It  puzzled  him;  but  that  after 
noon  he  had  a  chance  to  get  into  a  hot  debate,  and 
acquitted  himself  so  well  that  many  of  his  col 
leagues  came  over  and  congratulated  him,  and  he 
had  forgotten  all  about  the  cheque  when  he  went 
to  his  hotel  elated  over  his  success. 

"  Jim,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh  after  dinner,  "  Doro 
thy  came  in  to  see  me  this  afternoon." 

"How  is  she?" 

"  Oh,  very  well,  and  she  is  full  of  the  amateur 
theatricals  the  girls  of  the  school  are  going  to 
give  next  month.  She  has  a  leading  part." 

"  Are  they  teaching  her  to  be  an  actress  along 
with  other  useful  accomplishments?"  inquired 
Marsh. 

"  Of  course  not,  but  it  is  a  great  thing  for  a  girl 


160  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

in  her  first  year  to  have  this  distinction.  She  is 
crazy  about  it.  She  came  in  to  talk  to  me  about 
her  costume." 

"  Her  costume?  "  Marsh  sat  up  straight.  He 
knew  what  was  coming. 

"  Certainly.  You  didn't  think  she  could  ap 
pear  in  her  street  dress,  did  you?" 

"No,"  answered  Marsh;  "my  experience  is 
that  neither  of  you  can  appear  twice  in  any  dress 
you  may  happen  to  have." 

"  Don't  be  nasty,  Jim,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh 
calmly.  '  The  point  is  that  Dorothy,  who  is  to 
take  the  part  of  a  lady  of  the  Eighteenth  Century, 
is  obliged  to  buy  a  very  expensive  costume." 

"  How  much  will  it  cost?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  yet,  for  there  are  special 
shoes  and  wigs  and  all  that  to  go  with  it.  I'm 
afraid  it  will  be  quite  expensive,  though,  for  Doro 
thy  has  one  of  the  leading  parts,  and  her  cos 
tume  will  have  to  be  rather  elaborate." 

"  Huh!  "  commented  Marsh. 

"  And  while  we're  on  the  subject  of  clothes, 
dear,"  she  added  sweetly,  "  I  find  I've  simply  got 
to  have  three  new  gowns  myself." 

''  Three  new  gowns!  "  Marsh  jumped  from  his 
chair.  "  Good  Lord,  Molly,  you  must  think  I'm 
a  millionaire.  Well,  I'm  not,  and  it's  costing  me 
all  I  can  get  and  more  to  keep  up  this  social  fool 
ishness  of  yours.  Where's  it  going  to  stop?  " 

Mrs.  Marsh  didn't  reply.  Instead,  she  wept  a 
little.  Marsh  walked  about  the  room,  fidgeted 
with  some  books  on  the  table,  lighted  a  cigar, 


EASY  MONEY  i6i 

looked  out  the  window,  took  a  glass  of  water, 
fidgeted  with  some  more  books,  tried  to  read  a 
newspaper.  Finally  he  went  over  to  her  chair. 

"  All  right,  Molly,"  he  said.  "  I  guess  I  can 
make  it." 

He  knew  he  could,  for  before  his  eyes  was  dan 
cing  that  pink  slip  of  paper  with  "  $6500  "  written 
on  it  and  stamped  across  it  in  perforated  letters: 
"  Not  over  six  thousand  five  hundred,"  and  the 
signature  of  Stunz  &  Sturgess  at  the  bottom.  It 
would  have  been  good  if  it  had  been  for  six  mil 
lion  five  hundred  thousand. 

Next  day  he  put  the  cheque  in  the  bank.  His 
banker  friend  saw  him  at  the  window,  greeted  him 
with  one  of  those  restricted  smiles  of  his  and  with 
elaborate  politeness.  As  soon  as  Marsh  left  the 
bank  the  banker  went  into  the  cage  of  the  receiv 
ing  teller  and  looked  at  the  cheque.  He  smiled 
again  when  he  saw  it,  smiled  another  of  those 
smiles  that  only  included  his  lips;  and  there  was 
no  smile  in  his  eyes. 


XIV 


"  BE   BOSS   YOURSELF 


I 


session  ended.  Marsh  made  sev 
eral  speeches  that  added  to  his  repu 
tation  in  his  district,  at  least,  for  he 
sent  them  out  under  his  frank  as 
11  part  of  the  Congressional  Record  "  to  most  of 
his  constituents.  He  developed  a  facility  in  de 
bate,  and  several  times  was  put  up  by  the  majority 
leader  to  help  in  the  fight  for  a  bill.  He  was 
hailed  as  a  comer  and  the  leaders  watched  him 
narrowly. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  getting  invitations  to  more 
exclusive  functions.  She  had  her  picture  in  the 
papers  again,  and  she  never  failed  to  supply  the 
society  editors  with  the  minutest  chronicle  of  her 
social  activities.  Marsh  went  to  three  dinners 
given  by  men  of  prominence,  and  he  and  Mrs. 
IMarsh  dined  with  the  Paxtons  in  a  large  company 
and  at  several  other  good  houses.  Marsh  was 
proud  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  most  attractive 
woman  and  very  popular  because  of  her  vivacity 
and  skill  at  small  talk.  Her  gowns  were  the  envy 
of  many  of  the  women.  She  wore  them  well  and 
had  excellent  taste.  The  sixty-five  hundred  dol 
lars  helped  out  amazingly,  and  there  was  a  good 

162 


"BE  BOSS  YOURSELF  "  163 

bit  of  it  left  when  the  family  returned  to  Morgan- 
ville  for  the  summer.  Marsh  had  met  Quicksall 
several  times,  but,  after  the  first  interchange  of 
thanks  and  protestations  that  it  was  nothing,  the 
subject  of  the  cheque  did  not  come  up  between 
them  nor  did  Quicksall  offer  to  do  anything  more 
for  him. 

The  Congressional  Convention  was  called  early 
that  year  and  Marsh  was  renominated  by  acclama 
tion.  His  speech  of  acceptance  roused  much  en 
thusiasm.  McManus  sat  on  the  platform  when 
he  made  it.  The  Democrats  put  up  a  weak  man 
and  Marsh  thought  he  had  a  walk-away  for  elec 
tion. 

One  morning,  in  the  first  week  in  September, 
McManus  sent  for  Marsh. 

"  Jim,"  said  the  boss,  "  the  county  nominating 
convention  comes  next  week." 

"  I  know  it." 

;'  Well,  we've  got  to  pick  out  a  man  for  district- 
attorney.  That's  going  to  be  our  most  important 
office,  because  this  Civic  Betterment  League  is 
mixing  in  so  hard  some  of  the  boys  are  bound  to 
get  into  trouble." 

;'  Who've  you  got  in  mind?  "  asked  Marsh  in 
differently. 

McManus  squared  round,  looked  Marsh 
straight  in  the  eye  and  said:  "Billy  Hoover." 

;'  What?  "  shouted  Marsh,  jumping  to  his  feet. 
"Not  that  crook?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  McManus  quietly.  "  I  am  go 
ing  to  nominate  Billy  Hoover." 


1 64  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  But,  Bob,"  protested  Marsh,  "  you  can't  do 
that !  Billy  Hoover  is  known  all  over  this  dis 
trict  as  a  blackmailer,  a  thief,  a  shyster,  briber,  a 
jury-fixer.  Why,  I've  even  heard  he's  a  white 
slaver." 

"  Nevertheless,"  answered  McManus,  "  I'm 
going  to  nominate  Billy  Hoover  for  district-at 
torney  and  you've  got  to  stand  for  it." 

"By  God,  I  won't  stand  for  it!"  shouted 
Marsh.  "  I  won't  stand  for  it  for  a  single 
damned  minute !  You  might  as  well  know  that 
here  and  now !  You  can't  tie  me  up  with  any  such 
crook  as  Hoover!  It's  preposterous!  You  must 
be  crazy,  Bob,  to  think  of  imperilling  the  whole  lot 
of  us  by  sticking  that  scoundrel  on  the  ticket.  It's 
indecent.  You  can't  do  it." 

"  I  can  do  it,"  said  McManus,  "  and  what's 
more  I'm  going  to  do  it.  And  you  might  just  as 
well  cut  out  the  heroics  and  take  your  medicine. 
Billy  Hoover  is  going  on  the  ticket  and  you're  go 
ing  to  support  him." 

"I  won't  1"  yelled  Marsh,  wild  with  rage. 
'  You  can't  handicap  me  that  way  with  this  thief, 
merely  because  some  of  your  ballot-stealing,  brib 
ing,  repeating  saloonkeepers  and  divekeepers  and 
handy  men  may  get  what  is  coming  to  them.  You 
can't  do  it,  McManus.  I  won't  stand  for  it,  I 
tell  you." 

McManus  lighted  a  fresh  cigar  with  elaborate 
care.  "  Jim,"  he  said,  "  I'd  like  to  know,  just  to 
gratify  my  own  curiosity,  what  you  can  do  about 
it?" 


"  BE  BOSS  YOURSELF  v  165 

"  I'll  go  out  and  fight  him.  I'll  go  out  and  fight 
you.  I'll  make  a  campaign  against  him.  I'll 
brand  him  as  a  thief  on  every  stump  in  the  county. 
I'll  _  I'll  _» 

"  Hold  on,  Jim.  Don't  make  any  rash  threats. 
Sit  down  for  a  minute  and  think  what  will  happen 
to  you  if  you  get  gay  in  this  way." 

Marsh  sank  into  a  chair.  He  was  pale.  Cold 
sweat  stood  out  on  his  forehead.  His  hands 
were  clammy.  His  heart  beat  wildly.  He  knew 
what  would  happen  to  him.  He  would  be  beaten, 
and  McManus  would  beat  him. 

"  For  God's  sake,  McManus,"  he  pleaded, 
"  don't  do  this.  It's  an  outrage  and  you  know  it. 
It  will  offend  every  decent  man  in  the  county  and 
every  decent  woman.  The  people  will  rise  up 
against  it.  Have  some  sense.  Think  it  over. 
You  and  I  have  been  good  friends  and  you  have 
done  a  lot  for  me,  and  I'm  willing  to  go  the  limit 
for  you;  but  this  is  beyond  the  limit.  It's  so  far 
beyond  I  couldn't  hold  up  my  head  in  this  com 
munity  if  you  put  it  over  and  force  me  to  support 
Hoover.  Don't  do  it,  Mac." 

"  Jim,"  said  McManus,  "  there  are  reasons  why 
I've  got  to  do  it.  I've  got  to  protect  the  boys  be 
cause  I  thereby  protect  myself.  We  can  get  away 
with  it.  There  will  be  a  howl  at  first,  but  my  or 
ganisation  is  strong  enough  to  put  it  over.  If  we 
haven't  the  votes  we  can  get  them.  Come  on  now 
and  play  the  game." 

"Play  the  game?"  exclaimed  Marsh.  "You 
know  I'm  willing  enough  to  play  the  game,  but  not 


1 66  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

this  kind  of  a  game.  What  sort  of  a  game  is  it, 
Bob,  when  you  deliberately  insult  the  whole  com 
munity  by  putting  up  a  crook  and  a  scoundrel  for 
district-attorney,  your  prosecuting  officer,  on  a 
ticket  as  a  candidate  of  a  party  to  which  more  than 
half  of  our  people  belong?  " 

"  It's  the  game  of  politics,"  answered  McManus 
slowly.  "  It's  the  rotten  game  of  politics,  but  it's 
the  game  that  I  am  playing  and  that  you  are  play 
ing,  and  we've  got  to  play  it  together  or  we'll 
both  lose  out." 

Marsh  sat  and  stared  at  the  floor.  After  five 
minutes,  during  which  neither  man  spoke,  Mc 
Manus  said:  "  Think  it  over,  Jim,  and  come  and 
see  me  in  a  day  or  two.  I'm  going  to  do  it. 
Don't  forget  that." 

Marsh  walked  unsteadily  up  the  street.  He 
saw  his  whole  future  imperilled.  He  knew  there 
would  be  a  revolt  against  the  candidacy  of  Hoover, 
especially  as  the  Civic  Betterment  League  was  so 
active  in  the  politics  of  Morganville.  He  knew 
there  would  be  an  independent  candidate.  He 
knew  he  would  be  called  upon  to  state  his  position 
as  to  Hoover.  He  knew  he  would  be  beaten  if  he 
stood  by  McManus.  He  wondered  what  had 
happened  to  McManus.  Was  he  sane?  Had 
he  suddenly  been  bereft  of  his  political  judgment? 
The  thing  was  unexplainable  to  him.  His  mind 
refused  to  grasp  it.  He  would  go  back  to  Mc 
Manus  and  argue  with  him,  plead  with  him  not 
to  do  this  thing.  It  was  suicide.  It  was  criminal. 
And  most  of  all  it  would  defeat  him. 


"BE  BOSS  YOURSELF"  167 

Marsh  took  a  long  walk  out  in  the  country,  turn 
ing  the  thing  over  in  his  mind.  He  knew  Mc- 
Manus  was  set  in  his  ways,  was  an  absolute  boss, 
and  that  he  could  nominate  Hoover  or  any  other 
man,  so  complete  was  his  control  of  the  nominat 
ing  machinery.  He  knew  also  that  McManus 
could  and  would  defeat  him.  To  be  sure  he  had 
the  regular  nomination,  but  there  was  still  time 
for  McManus  to  put  up  an  independent  candidate 
against  him,  which  he  could  do  easily,  or  else  he 
could  throw  the  support  of  his  organisation  to  the 
Democrat  named  against  Marsh.  The  turn  of 
six  hundred  votes  would  elect  his  opponent.  Mc 
Manus  controlled  more  than  six  hundred  votes 
in  Morganville  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  rest 
of  the  district. 

When  he  got  back  to  his  office,  still  undeter 
mined  as  to  his  course,  he  found  a  telegram  there 
from  Paxton,  who  was  at  his  home  in  the  city 
fifty  miles  away.  "  Come  over  and  see  me.  Im 
portant,"  it  read.  Marsh  took  the  evening  train 
and  reached  the  senator's  house  at  ten  o'clock. 

"  Hello,  Jim,"  said  the  senator,  as  Marsh  came 
into  the  library  where  Paxton  was  seated.  "  Glad 
to  see  you.  I  note  you  were  nominated  again 
without  any  trouble." 

"  Yes  and  no,"  answered  Marsh.  "  There 
wasn't  any  trouble  about  the  nomination,  but 
there's  a  hell  of  a  lot  of  it  now." 

Paxton  handed  him  a  cigar.  "  That's  what  I 
want  to  talk  with  you  about,"  he  said. 

There  was  a  pause.     Then  the  senator  began: 


i68  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  I  understand  Bob  McManus  is  going  to  nomi 
nate  Billy  Hoover  for  district-attorney." 

"  That's  what  he  says,  but  I  can't  think  he  means 
it." 

"  Oh,  he  means  it  all  right.  He's  in  a  hole 
with  the  things  that  Civic  Betterment  League  has 
dug  up.  You  know,  Marsh,  McManus  hasn't 
been  exactly  what  you  might  call  an  exponent  of 
purity  in  elections  over  there  in  your  county  or  in 
the  district  either." 

"  I  suppose  not." 

"  You  know  not.  Well,  he's  got  a  lot  of  the 
judges  on  his  staff,  but  he's  got  to  have  the  dis 
trict-attorney  too,  for  sure  as  a  gun  there  will  be 
some  attempts  to  indict  him  and  some  of  his  fol 
lowers.  He's  got  to  have  the  right  representa 
tion  before  the  grand  jury.  So  he's  picked 
Hoover,  and  Hoover  will  do  anything  he  tells 
him  to  do." 

"  And  in  the  meantime,"  said  Marsh  bitterly, 
"  I  get  the  worst  of  it  and  so  do  all  the  rest  of  the 
men  on  the  ticket,  just  because  McManus  is  trying 
to  save  his  own  skin." 

"  Well,  Jim,"  and  the  senator  was  very  gentle 
about  it,  "  McManus  is  human  and  politics  is  the 
most  selfish  game  on  this  earth.  You  know  that. 
We  can't  blame  him  for  trying  to  look  out  for 
himself." 

"  And  I've  got  to  stand  for  it  merely  because 
McManus  happens  to  be  the  boss  of  the  county," 
Marsh  exclaimed  passionately. 

Paxton  puffed  reflectively  at  his  cigar.     After 


"  BE  BOSS  YOURSELF  ':  169 

a  minute  or  two  he  turned  to  Marsh  and  put  his 
hand  on  Marsh's  shoulder.  "  Not  necessarily, 
Jim,"  he  said  quietly;  "  not  necessarily." 

"What  do  you  mean?"  asked  Marsh,  jump 
ing  to  his  feet  excitedly.  "  Do  you  mean  I  can 
beat  him  in  the  convention?  " 

"  No,  I  don't  mean  that.  That  wouldn't 
amount  to  anything.  It  would  merely  save  him 
from  error.  Sit  down." 

"What  do  you  mean  then?"  Marsh  was 
eager;  his  eyes  blazed. 

"  I  mean,"  said  Senator  Paxton  slowly,  "  that 
you  can  jump  in  and  take  the  organisation  away 
from  McManus  and  be  the  boss  yourself." 

Marsh  started  from  his  chair  again.  He 
walked  nervously  to  the  end  of  the  room,  stood 
for  a  minute  looking  out  of  a  window,  then  turned 
and  asked:  "Could  I?  Do  you  think  I  could?  " 

''Why  not?  The  stage  seems  to  be  set  for 
you.  All  it  needs  is  for  you  to  come  on  and  play 
the  part." 

"  But,"  said  Marsh  hesitatingly,  "  that  would 
be  damned  ingratitude  on  my  part." 

"  Gratitude,  my  dear  Jim,"  remarked  the  sen 
ator,  smiling  a  little,  "  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  the  human  attributes  —  valuable  because,  like 
radium,  it  is  so  rare,  and  far  beyond  the  value  of 
radium  in  politics,  where  it  is  so  scarce  as  to  be 
practically  unknown.  Sit  down.  There's  noth 
ing  to  get  excited  about.  Let  me  outline  the  sit 
uation  to  you:  McManus,  to  save  his  own  skin, 
has  decided  to  name  a  crook  for  district-attorney 


170  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

to  complete  his  protective  chain,  which  begins  with 
his  control  of  the  courts.  He  is  personally  in 
different  whether  you  or  any  one  else  is  ruined 
in  the  process.  That  shows,  I  should  say,  a  de 
cided  lack  of  gratitude  on  his  part  for  what  you 
have  done  for  him  —  and  you  have  done  things,  as 
I  know.  Now,  then,  Jim,  Bob  McManus  has 
ceased  to  be  useful  to  us.  He  has  overplayed  his 
hand.  Sooner  or  later  he  is  bound  to  be  the  cen 
tre  of  a  big  political  scandal,  and  we  are  not  look 
ing  for  any  political  scandals  at  this  particular 
time.  Almost  providentially  he  has  given  us  the 
instruments  for  his  own  destruction.  In  his  wild 
desire  to  keep  himself  out  of  jail  he  has  handed 
us  the  very  instrument  with  which  we  can  put  him 
in  jail,  take  his  organisation  away  from  him,  and 
become  exemplars  of  purity  and  reform  in  poli 
tics,  thus  perpetuating  ourselves  in  a  manner  quite 
necessary  to  our  ends  and  aims." 

"  But,"  asked  Marsh,  who  was  beginning  to 
feel  himself  the  successor  of  McManus,  "  won't 
his  gang  stick  by  him?  " 

"  There,  my  son,  is  where  you  dispute  the  truth 
of  the  immortal  axiom  I  just  enunciated.  His 
gang  will  not  stick  by  him.  No  gang, 
except  in  the  cases  of  a  few  sentimental  in 
dividuals,  ever  stuck  by  a  deposed  boss.  You  do 
not  realise  the  utter  selfishness  of  this  game.  Why 
should  a  gang  stick  by  McManus?  He  can't  do 
anything  for  them  after  he  has  lost  out.  As  for 
gratitude  for  what  he  has  done  for  them,  that  is 
not  to  be  considered.  There  ain't  no  such  ani- 


"BE  BOSS  YOURSELF"  171 

mile.  They'll  quit  him  the  moment  he  shows 
signs  of  losing;  don't  worry  about  that." 
"  Why  do  you  put  this  up  to  me?  " 
"  There  you  go  again,  Jim,  howling  for  motives. 
But  if  it  will  satisfy  that  curiosity  of  yours  and  if 
the  reason  hasn't  occurred  to  you,  or  if  this  is 
merely  an  acute  attack  of  mock  modesty,  of  elab 
orate  self-depreciation,  I'll  tell  you  why  I  put  it 
up  to  you.  The  reason  I  asked  you  to  come  over 
here  is  because  I  have  been  watching  you  in  Con 
gress  and  I  need  you  in  my  business.  You  are  a 
big,  strong,  clever  man.  You  have  the  makings 
of  a  person  I  need  in  this  state,  a  person  with  the 
gift  of  talk,  with  a  good  mind  and  a  good  sense 
of  proportion  to  stand  out  and  direct  things,  or 
assume  to.  Of  course,  you  understand,  I  shall  di 
rect  your  directing,  but  that  will  come  later.  I 
want  to  form  the  political  firm  of  Paxton  and 
Marsh,  and  I  can  do  a  lot  of  things  for  you,  and 
I  will,  if  you  will  be  on  the  square.  Also  I  can 
do  a  few  necessary  things  for  myself.  You  see, 
Jim,"  he  ended  whimsically,  "  as  I  pointed  out  a 
few  minutes  ago,  the  element  of  selfishness  is  not 
entirely  separated  from  the  practice  of  politics 
as  a  profession." 

They  talked  a  long  time.  Paxton  had  his  plans 
made.  Marsh  assented  to  them.  He  was  to  re 
turn  to  Morganville,  tell  McManus  he  would  op 
pose  the  nomination  of  Hoover  and  break  defin 
itely  with  the  boss.  Both  knew  McManus  was 
stubborn  enough  and  confident  enough  of  his 
power,  as  he  had  reason  to  be,  to  compel  the  nom- 


1 72  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ination  of  Hoover,  and  Marsh  was  to  make  his 
protest  public  the  moment  the  nomination  was 
made,  organise  a  revolt,  lead  it  against  Mc- 
Manus,  name  a  good,  clean,  independent  candidate 
and  fight  to  the  finish.  They  were  both  sure  public 
sentiment  would  be  with  them  and  that  McManus 
would  be  beaten.  Then  Marsh  could  assume  the 
leadership,  reorganise  the  machine  and  take  his 
position  as  the  boss.  Paxton  promised  Marsh  all 
the  aid  he  needed  from  national  party  sources  to 
make  his  own  campaign,  for  McManus  would  con 
tribute  nothing.  Everything  was  arranged. 

"  Remember,  Jim,"  said  the  senator  as  they 
parted,  "  all  I  ask  of  you  is  that  you  play  the 
game." 


XV 

THE   SPLIT   WITH   MC  MANUS 

MARSH  went  to  see  McManus  the 
second  day  after  he  had  his  confer 
ence  with  Senator  Paxton.  "  Bob," 
he  said,  "  how  about  that  Hoover 
business?  " 

"  That's  all  settled.  It's  water  over  the  dam," 
McManus  replied. 

"  You're  going  to  nominate  him?  " 

"Sure!" 

11  Well,  Bob,  I  won't  stand  for  it." 

"  You  won't  stand  for  it?  "  sneered  McManus. 
"  Who  in  hell  cares  whether  you  stand  for  it  or 
not?  What  difference  does  that  make  to  me? 
You'll  stand  for  it  all  right,  or  you'll  get  the  worst 
trimming  any  man  ever  got  who  ran  for  Congress 
out  this  way." 

"  That  may  be,"  said  Marsh,  keeping  his  tem 
per,  "  but  I  tell  you  now  once  for  all  that  I'm  go 
ing  to  fight  you  on  it." 

"  Fight  and  be  damned  1  "  screamed  McManus. 
"  I'll  break  every  bone  in  your  body.  I'll  throw 
you  so  far  in  the  political  discard  you  won't  know 
who's  been  elected  president  for  four  years  after 
it's  happened.  I'll  put  you  on  the  dump  with  a 

173 


i74          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

lot  of  other  smart  Alecks  who  decided  to  fight 
Bob  McManus.  Get  the  hell  out  of  here  and 
make  your  fight,  and  see  where  you  come  out! 
Gwan!" 

Marsh  walked  out.  He  was  angry,  but  he  had 
sense  enough  to  do  nothing  until  McManus  had 
shown  his  hand.  He  didn't  want  to  spoil  things 
by  announcing  his  opposition  to  something  that 
was  yet  undone.  So  he  sat  steady  and  waited  for 
the  convention. 

He  had  been  elected  a  delegate  to  the  conven 
tion  at  his  ward  caucus.  He  had  his  credentials. 
He  was  to  have  been  permanent  chairman,  and  he 
had  planned  to  make  a  speech  about  party  unity, 
harmony,  the  grand  old  organisation  and  such 
necessary  flubdub,  and  to  see  to  it  that  the  slate 
was  rushed  through. 

The  convention  was  held  in  the  opera  house. 
There  were  one  hundred  and  ten  delegates.  A 
contest  had  been  framed  against  Marsh's  delega 
tion  by  the  orders  of  McManus,  but  Marsh  made 
such  a  fight  in  the  credentials  committee  and  had 
so  much  right  on  his  side  that  the  members  of  that 
committee,  which  was  an  unusual  one,  inasmuch  as 
there  never  was  any  protest  over  delegations  in 
county  conventions,  forgot  their  orders  and  seated 
Marsh  and  his  colleagues  and  the  contesting  dele 
gates  also,  with  half  a  vote  apiece.  McManus 
was  frantic  with  rage,  for  this  allowed  Marsh  a 
seat  in  the  convention.  However,  neither  one  had 
said  anything  about  the  break,  and  McManus 


THE  SPLIT  WITH  McMANUS     175 

secretly  felt  that  Marsh  would  back  water  at  the 
last  moment. 

Paxton  encouraged  Marsh  with  a  wire  telling 
him  to  go  ahead,  and  Marsh  awaited  develop 
ments.  The  permanent  organisation  was  per 
fected  with  that  smoothness  of  detail  and 
accuracy  of  movement  that  characterised  all 
of  the  conventions  handled  by  McManus,  who 
sat  glowering  across  the  aisle  at  Marsh  at 
the  head  of  his  own  ward  delegation.  The 
delegates  from  the  towns  knew  nothing  of  what 
was  imminent,  and  the  Morganville  delegates 
barely  sensed  something  wrong,  but  did  not  know 
what  it  was.  A  county  judge  was  named  and 
nominated  by  acclamation. 

"  Nominations  for  district-attorney  are  in  or 
der,"  piped  the  chairman,  a  creature  of  Mc 
Manus.' 

Instantly,  a  big,  red-faced  lawyer,  who  was  the 
personal  attorney  of  McManus,  rushed  to  the 
platform.  The  chairman  rapped  for  order. 
The  red-faced  man  in  a  ten-minutes  speech  dwelt 
upon  the  virtues  of  the  person  he  had  in  mind,  told 
of  his  eminent  qualifications  for  the  great  office  of 
district-attorney,  his  tremendous  legal  abilities,  his 
sterling  honesty,  his  active  citizenship,  and  wound 
up  with  the  words  "  and  for  this  highly  important 
office,  important  to  every  citizen  and  taxpayer  of 
this  county,  I  have  the  honour  to  propose  the 
name  of  the  Honourable  William  B.  Hoover,  of 
Morganville." 


THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Marsh  had  moved  up  toward  the  stage.  After 
the  cheering  had  ceased  —  McManus  had  ar 
ranged  a  vociferous  applause  —  he  walked  to  the 
stairs. 

As  he  was  climbing  the  short  flight  of  stairs  the 
chairman  shouted:  "Are  there  any  other  nom 
inations?  The  chair  hears  none.  Nominations 
are  closed.  What  is  the  pleasure  of  the  conven 
tion?" 

"  Mr.  Chairman,"  yelled  another  McManus 
follower,  "  I  move  that  the  Honourable  William 
B.  Hoover  be  declared  the  nominee  of  this  con 
vention  for  the  office  of  district-attorney." 

"  Second  that,"  roared  a  dozen  delegates. 

"Mr.  Chairman!"  shouted  Marsh,  who  was 
then  in  the  centre  of  the  stage.  "  Mr.  Chair 
man  !  " 

The  chairman  ignored  him.  "  It  is  moved  and 
seconded,"  he  recited  glibly,  "  that  the  Honour 
able  William  B.  Hoover  be  declared  the  nominee 
of  this  convention  for  the  office  of  district-attorney 
of  Greenfield  County.  All  in  favour  say  '  Aye.'  ' 

There  was  a  great  volume  of  "  Ayes." 

"  Opposed,  '  No,'  "  said  the  chairman. 

"No!"  yelled  Marsh. 

'  The  ayes  have  it,"  declared  the  chairman, 
"  and  the  Honourable  William  B.  Hoover  is  the 
nominee.  The  next  office  to  be  filled  is  that  of 
county  treasurer.  Nominations  are  in  order." 

"  Mr.  Chairman!  "  shouted  Marsh  again. 

"  For  what  purpose  does  the  gentleman  rise?  " 
asked  the  chairman,  regarding  Marsh  in  a  sur- 


THE  SPLIT  WITH  McMANUS     177 

prised  manner,  as  if  he  were  just  at  that  moment 
aware  of  his  presence  on  the  stage. 

"  I  desire  to  protest  against  the  nomination  of 
this  thief,  this  crook — " 

"  He's  out  of  order!  "  screamed  a  delegate. 

There  came  a  great  chorus  of  "  Throw  him 
out!"  "Regular  order!"  and  Marsh,  vainly 
trying  to  make  himself  heard,  subsided  as  he  saw 
nothing  could  be  done.  The  chairman  knew  his 
business.  The  ticket  was  quickly  completed,  ac 
cording  to  the  slate,  and  the  convention  adjourned, 
with  Marsh  standing  on  the  stage,  angry,  but  feel 
ing  rather  foolish  for  all  that. 

McManus  grinned  sardonically.  "  Go  to  it!  " 
he  rasped,  as  Marsh  walked  out.  "Go  to  it! 
You'll  never  get  back  to  Washington.  I'll  fix 
you  all  right,  and  I'm  the  man  who  can  do  it!  " 

The  reporters  for  the  two  little  afternoon 
papers  in  Morganville  came  to  Marsh's  office, 
and  he  gave  them  an  interview  protesting  against 
the  nomination  of  Hoover.  He  declared  Hoover 
to  be  unworthy  of  the  support  of  any  honest  man, 
and  demanded  a  public  expression  on  the  nomi 
nation  and  another  candidate,  "  in  order,"  as  he 
said,  "  that  the  politics  of  our  county  shall  no 
longer  be  prostituted  to  the  base  desires  of  this 
man  McManus,  who  styles  himself  boss."  The 
papers  printed  the  interview  as  news,  but  as  they 
were  controlled  by  McManus  editorially  they  in 
dorsed  Hoover. 

There  was  great  excitement.  The  question  of 
the  fitness  of  Hoover  for  the  district-attorneyship 


i78  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

took  precedence  over  all  other  topics  in  the  county. 
There  was  a  mass  meeting  in  the  opera  house,  ar 
ranged  by  the  Civic  Betterment  League,  at  which 
Marsh  was  the  principal  speaker.  He  was  in 
great  form  and  made  the  best  speech  he  had  ever 
made.  He  went  into  details  as  to  the  unfitness  of 
Hoover,  scored  McManus  and  his  corrupt  ma 
chine,  and  demanded  that  the  citizens  of  Morgan- 
ville  and  Greenfield  County  should  cleanse  them 
selves  of  this  festering  sore  that  fed  on  the  body 
politic.  There  was  much  enthusiasm.  An  inde 
pendent  candidate  was  selected,  a  bright,  clean 
young  lawyer  named  Carver  from  one  of  the 
country  towns,  who  had  no  possible  connection 
with  McManus,  and  the  fight  was  bitter  from  the 
start. 

McManus  sat  until  late  every  night  in  the  back 
room  at  his  headquarters  directing  the  campaign 
for  Hoover.  He  perfected  his  organisation, 
looked  carefully  after  the  election  machinery, 
which  he  controlled,  brought  in  as  many  repeaters 
as  he  dared  and  lodged  them  in  shacks  by  the 
river,  and  spent  money  lavishly.  He  forced  sev 
eral  men  of  good  repute,  who  were  under  obliga 
tions  to  him  or  about  whom  he  had  disconcerting 
if  not  criminal  knowledge,  to  go  on  the  stump  for 
Hoover,  but  he  kept  that  person  discreetly  in  the 
background.  He  used  both  afternoon  papers. 
The  one  morning  paper  in  the  town  was  anti- 
McManus,  and  Marsh  secured  his  publicity 
through  that.  Marsh  organised  the  campaign 
for  Carver,  the  independent  candidate,  worked 


THE  SPLIT  WITH  McMANUS    179 

night  and  day,  made  many  speeches,  and  did  not 
go  near  his  law  office  for  weeks. 

The  good  citizens  of  the  county  had  rallied  to 
Marsh  and  he  was  praised  on  every  hand  for  his 
patriotic  stand  for  pure  politics.  The  city  papers 
sent  down  reporters,  who  wrote  picturesque  stories 
about  the  fight  of  Marsh  against  boss  rule,  and  a 
week  or  so  before  the  end  of  the  campaign  a 
couple  of  political  correspondents  for  Chicago 
papers,  whose  editors  had  been  attracted  by  the 
clamour,  dropped  in  and  sent  back  a  column  or 
two  about  the  muss.  They  took  Marsh's  side,  as 
is  the  way  with  virtuous  political  correspondents, 
they  being  always  against  boss  rule,  for  opposition 
creates  copy,  while  support  of  the  organisation 
consists  mostly  in  keeping  things  out  of  the  papers 
or  putting  things  in  that  are  not  necessarily  in  line 
with  the  facts. 

The  wisest  political  observers  coincided  in  their 
views  that  it  was  a  case  of  nip-and-tuck.  Tre 
mendous  efforts  were  made  in  the  last  week  to 
bring  about  a  movement  that  should  aid  the  inde 
pendent  candidate,  but  McManus  held  his  forces 
well  in  hand  and  claimed  to  be  confident.  Elec 
tion  day  came  with  each  side  frightened.  Nobody 
knew  what  would  happen,  although  Marsh  felt 
there  was  a  strong  underneath  movement  toward 
his  man.  His  own  campaign  had  been  practically 
neglected.  He  made  a  few  speeches,  but  things 
looked  well  out  in  the  district,  where  Senator  Pax- 
ton  was  on  guard  and  was  holding  the  regulars 
in  line,  on  the  theory  that  this  affair  in  Greenfield 


180          THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

County  was  merely  a  local  muss  and  must  not  com 
plicate  the  national  situation  or  lose  the  party  a 
representative  in  Congress.  McManus  had  or 
dered  his  followers,  not  only  in  Greenfield  County 
but  through  the  district,  to  vote  for  Marsh's  Dem 
ocratic  opponent. 

Word  came  from  all  parts  of  the  county  on 
election  day  that  the  voting  was  heavy,  and  the 
early  returns  that  night  showed  the  two  candidates 
for  district-attorney  to  be  running  evenly.  The 
returns  were  delayed,  owing  to  a  new  and  com 
plicated  ballot  law  that  had  been  in  effect  only  a 
short  time,  and  at  midnight  it  was  seen  that  a  hun 
dred  or  two  votes  either  way  would  decide  the 
contest.  The  two  river  wards  of  Morganville 
were  slow  in  sending  in  their  returns.  Marsh  sus 
pected  trickery  there  and  hurried  men  down  to  the 
polling  places.  They  found  policemen  on  guard 
at  the  doors,  but  Marsh's  watchers  were  all  inside 
and  attending  to  their  duties.  It  was  explained 
that  the  reason  the  count  was  so  slow  in  these 
wards  was  because  the  election  officials  were 
mostly  foreigners  —  it  was  the  mill  district  —  and 
lacked  the  requisite  expertness  to  make  a  quick 
count. 

This  didn't  satisfy  Marsh.  The  count  from 
these  wards  had  been  expert  enough  at  former 
elections,  and  the  same  election  officials  had  been 
put  there  by  McManus,  who  held  the  election 
machinery  and  dictated  to  every  man  who  had  to 
do  with  the  balloting  except  the  Marsh  watchers. 
Marsh  waited  impatiently  at  his  headquarters. 


THE  SPLIT  WITH  McMANUS 

Word  trickled  out  of  these  polling  places  that  the 
two  men  were  running  about  even.  As  the  re 
turns  stood  then,  without  these  wards  Marsh's 
man  had  won  by  about  eighty  votes.  The  morn 
ing  paper  went  to  press  at  two  o'clock  claiming 
the  election  of  Marsh's  candidate  by  a  hundred, 
and  the  unofficial  returns  from  the  slow  wards 
seemed  to  justify  this  report,  from  all  Marsh 
could  hear.  He  waited,  though  impatient,  sus 
pecting  fraud,  but  not  knowing  where  it  would 
come, 


XVI 

TREVELYAN' s  TROUSERS 

EVERYBODY   had    gone   home,    except: 
McManus  and  a  few  of  his  men  at  their 
headquarters   and  Marsh   and  half   a 
dozen  supporters  at  Marsh's  headquar 
ters.     Although  the  returns  from  the  river  wards 
were  not  yet  officially  known,  it  was  conceded  that 
Marsh's  candidate  had  won  by  approximately  a 
hundred  votes.     It  seemed  certain  that  the  river 
wards  could  not  change  this,  for  apparently  accu 
rate  reports  had  been  furnished  by  Marsh's  watch 
ers  as  to  the  count  there  and  by  the  police. 

Ernest  Williams,  the  political  reporter  for  the 
Gazette,  the  morning  paper,  had  been  sent  out  for 
a  final  round-up  of  the  two  headquarters  to  see  if 
he  could  get  something  late  for  an  extra.  As  he 
hurried  up  Main  Street,  which  was  deserted,  he 
saw  a  cab  come  pelting  by,  and  he  thought  he  rec 
ognised  Johnnie  Trevelyan,  city  clerk  and  a  strong 
McManus  man,  in  the  cab.  Williams  ran  after 
it,  and  dodged  discreetly  into  a  doorway  when  the 
cab  stopped  in  front  of  the  stairway  that  led  up  to 
the  McManus  headquarters.  Trevelyan  got  out. 
Two  men  were  with  him.  Williams  recognised 
the  two  men  as  McManus  followers  who  held 

182 


TREVELYAN'S  TROUSERS        183 

small  political  jobs,  one  at  the  courthouse  and  one 
in  the  city  hall.  They  hurried  up  the  stairway. 

Williams  waited  in  the  doorway.  Presently 
the  three  men  came  down  and  Trevelyan  got  into 
the  carriage.  The  city  hall  was  only  two  blocks 
away.  Williams  stood  and  watched  the  cab  drive 
there,  then  saw  Trevelyan  get  out  and  run  into 
the  doorway.  The  street  was  well  lighted,  and 
he  recognised  Trevelyan,  not  only  because  he  had 
seen  him  get  into  the  cab,  but  because  McManus 
wore  a  light  suit,  he  being  an  advanced  dresser 
according  to  Morganville  standards.  The  other 
men  walked  away. 

Williams  went  upstairs.  McManus  was  sit 
ting  at  his  desk.  "  Well,  Bob,"  said  Williams, 
with  the  easy  familiarity  of  the  political  reporter 
in  the  small  town  who  knows  all  the  personages 
intimately,  "  we  licked  you,  didn't  we?  " 

"  Don't  be  so  sure  about  that,"  said  McManus. 
"  It's  close,  but  I  wouldn't  make  any  bet  if  I  were 
you  until  we  get  the  official  count." 

"What's  that?"  asked  Williams  sharply. 

u  I  say  it's  close  and  it  will  take  the  official 
count  to  tell." 

"  Can  I  use  the  phone?  "  asked  Williams. 

"  Sure,  go  ahead." 

Williams  called  up  his  city  editor.  "  Say, 
Charley,"  he  said,  "  Bob  McManus  claims  it  will 
take  an  official  count  to  tell  who's  won  for  district- 
attorney." 

"  Not  on  what  we  get  from  the  city  hall," 
snapped  back  the  city  editor.  "  The  returns  are 


1 84  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

in  from  the  river  wards  and  they  give  it  to  Hoover 
by  a  hundred  and  sixty-four." 

Williams  whistled.  "  Yes,  that's  what  I  said," 
he  repeated  loudly.  "  Mr.  McManus  says  it  will 
take  an  official  count.  I'll  be  down  and  write 
something  about  it  in  a  few  minutes.  And,  oh, 
Charley,  is  Dan  Leary  over  at  the  hall  yet?  " 

"  He  was  a  few  minutes  ago.  He  phoned 
these  returns  in.  Hustle  if  you're  going  to  write 
anything,  for  we've  got  to  make  over  and  put  this 
thing  in  doubt  in  the  extra  on  the  face  of  these  late 
returns." 

"  Bye-bye,  Bob,"  said  Williams,  lighting  a  cig 
arette  with  much  nonchalance.  "  It's  been  a 
tough  fight,  but  there's  no  hard  feelings?  " 

"  Not  a  bit  in  the  world,"  McManus  answered. 
"  Good-night,  Ernie." 

Williams  walked  slowly  out  of  the  door  and 
then  took  two  jumps  down  the  stairs.  He  rushed 
over  to  the  city  hall.  Dan  Leary  was  just  leaving. 

"  Dan,"  panted  Williams,  "  how  did  those  re 
turns  come  in  from  the  river  wards?  " 

"  Johnny  Trevelyan  brought  them  in.  Said  he 
drove  down  and  got  them.  Tired  of  waiting. 
He's  filed  them  with  the  rest  of  the  bunch,  and 
Carrigan  put  them  in  the  safe  for  the  canvassing 
board  in  the  morning." 

"  Did  you  see  them?  " 

"  Sure;  I  copied  my  figures  from  them." 

"  How  did  they  look?" 

"  Like  any  other  returns,  you  mutfc.  What's 
biting  you  ?  " 


TREVELYAN'S  TROUSERS        185 

"  Dan,"  said  Williams  excitedly,  "  you  beat  it 
over  to  the  office  and  tell  Charley  to  hold 
that  extra  until  he  hears  from  me.  Beat  it 
now!" 

Leary  started  away  on  a  gallop.  Williams  ran 
up  the  street  and  burst  into  Marsh's  headquarters. 
Marsh  was  discussing  the  victory  with  three  or 
four  men  who  had  been  most  active  in  the  cam 
paign. 

"Mr.  Marsh!"  exclaimed  Williams,  "  Mc- 
Manus  has  flimmed  you." 

"  Flimmed  me?  "  said  Marsh.     "  How?  " 

"  I  don't  know  how,  but  the  official  returns  from 
the  river  wards  give  the  election  to  Hoover  by  a 
hundred  and  sixty-four." 

"What's  that?"  shouted  Marsh.  "Say  that 
again." 

"  I  tell  you  the  official  returns,  just  In,  give  the 
election  to  Hoover  by  a  hundred  and  sixty-four, 
and  McManus  claims  that  the  official  count  will 
show  that  Hoover  is  elected." 

Williams  then  told  his  story,  how  he  had  seen 
the  cab  drive  up,  how  Trevelyan  got  out  with  two 
McManus  heelers,  how  they  went  up  to  Mc 
Manus'  room,  stayed  a  short  time,  and  how 
Trevelyan  went  to  the  city  hall,  bringing  in  the  re 
turns  himself  and  filing  them. 

"  Jake,"  said  Marsh  to  a  man  who  had  been 
watcher  in  one  of  the  slow  polling  places,  "  are 
you  sure  your  ward  gave  Carver  forty-seven?  " 

"  Sure's  I'm  alive.  I  saw  it  on  the  return  sheet 
myself,  put  down  in  black  and  white." 


1 86  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"Where's  Riordan?  "  shouted  Marsh.  "He 
was  in  the  other  ward." 

"  He's  over  at  the  Dutchman's  getting  a  sand 
wich,"  Jake  answered. 

Marsh  grabbed  the  telephone  and  called  the 
Dutchman's,  which  was  a  saloon  with  a  lunch- 
counter  attachment.  Riordan  was  summoned  to 
the  telephone. 

"  Riordan,  come  over  Here  quick,"  shouted 
Marsh. 

Three  minutes  later  Riordan  puffed  into  the 
room,  his  half-eaten  cheese  sandwich  in  his  hand. 

"  Dan,"  questioned  Marsh,  "  what  did  Carver 
get  in  your  ward?  " 

"  Sixty-two  majority." 

"  Are  you  sure?  " 

"  I  saw  it  myself  on  the  return  sheet  just  before 
Johnnie  Trevelyan  came  round  to  collect  it  and 
save  the  boys  the  bother  of  a  trip  uptown." 

"  Now,  then,  Williams,"  commanded  Marsh, 
"  tell  me  that  story  of  yours  again." 

Williams  related  the  incidents  of  the  visit  of 
Trevelyan  to  McManus  and  the  rest  of  it. 

"  Simple  enough,"  said  Marsh  quietly,  as  Wil 
liams  finished  his  recital.  "  They  shifted  the 
sheets  on  us  up  there  in  McManus'  office.  Had 
duplicates  all  prepared,  forged  a  signature  or  two 
probably,  but  put  in  new  sheets  with  changed  re 
sults  on  them  so  Hoover  would  win,  and  filed  the 
bogus  sheets.  Plain  as  the  nose  on  your  face. 
Ernie,"  he  said,  "  call  up  the  Gazette  and  tell 
them  to  hold  any  extra  they  are  getting  out  until 


TREVELYAN'S  TROUSERS        187 

I  can  get  down  there.  Come  on,  boys,  this  fight 
isn't  over  yet." 

Marsh  went  to  the  Gazette  office  and  wrote  a 
statement,  which  was  printed  in  big  black  type  on 
the  first  page  of  the  extra,  claiming  gross  frauds 
on  the  part  of  McManus,  charging  specifically 
that  the  returns  had  been  altered  in  the  office  of 
McManus,  and  calling  on  all  good  citizens  of 
Morganville  and  Greenfield  County  to  join  with 
him  to  resist  this  outrage  and  put  the  perpetrators 
of  it  in  the  penitentiary.  He  used  the  telephone 
for  an  hour,  summoned  a  number  of  his  coworkers 
out  for  consultation  with  him  at  his  office,  drank 
a  cup  of  coffee,  bought  himself  some  clean  linen 
in  a  haberdasher's  store,  was  shaved;  and  at  nine 
o'clock  waited  on  Justice  Limbert  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  state,  who  was  holding  court  there. 
He  told  his  story  to  the  judge  and  applied  for  a 
temporary  injunction  restraining  the  canvassing 
board  from  canvassing  the  returns,  alleging  gross 
fraud,  pending  other  proceedings. 

Morganville  was  wildly  excited  over  the  news 
in  the  Gazette  extra.  There  was  a  meeting  of 
indignant  protest  at  noon.  Judge  Limbert  had 
granted  the  temporary  injunction  for  which  Marsh 
applied  and  set  the  hearing  for  Friday  morning. 
The  afternoon  papers,  both  McManus  organs, 
claimed  Hoover's  election  carried  statements  from 
McManus  denying  absolutely  the  story  in  the 
Gazette,  and  calling  Marsh  a  squealer,  a  traitor, 
an  ingrate  and  reading  him  out  of  public  life. 

That  night  there  was  another  mass  meeting. 


i88  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

The  people  were  angry.  McManus  and  his  fol 
lowers  stolidly  held  there  was  no  fraud,  and 
Johnnie  Trevelyan  asserted  he  did  not  bring  up 
the  returns  at  all,  that  they  came  in  by  regular 
messengers,  and  that  he  went  over  to  the  city  hall 
at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  change  his 
trousers. 


XVII 

THE   STUPIDITY   OF    STROWLSKI 


1 


law  provided  that  the  ballots  should 
be  destroyed  after  they  had  been 
counted,  the  tally  sheets  filled  out,  the 
returns  certified  regularly  by  the  proper 
polling-place  officials.  Therefore  the  question  at 
issue  was  whether  the  returns  filed  in  the  office  of 
the  city  clerk  were  the  correct  returns  or  fraudu 
lent  returns,  and  all  there  was  to  prove  that  was 
the  testimony  of  those  who  had  been  present  dur 
ing  the  process  of  counting. 

The  morning  paper  contended  vigorously  that 
the  returns  had  been  fixed  in  the  office  of  Mc- 
Manus,  that  the  real  sheets  containing  the  real 
results  in  the  polling  for  district-attorney  had  been 
taken  out  and  other  sheets  prepared  beforehand 
substituted,  the  complete  return,  under  the  law 
of  the  time,  consisting  of  a  number  of  return 
sheets,  one  for  each  office  voted  for,  and  all  fas 
tened  together  at  the  top  by  staples  or  pins.  The 
McManus  followers,  in  the  two  afternoon  papers, 
scoffed  at  this  idea  as  fantastic  and  the  invention 
of  beaten  and  squealing  soreheads.  They  said 
the  returns  were  regular,  legal  and  accurate,  and 
that  Hoover  had  won  by  one  hundred  and  sixty- 

189 


i9o  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

four.  Marsh  issued  broadsides  each  morning, 
and  the  Gazette  printed  extras  during  the  day  to 
counteract  the  publications  in  the  afternoon 
papers.  Marsh  worked  unceasingly  until  Friday 
morning  preparing  his  affidavits.  His  watchers 
were  certain  the  returns  in  the  river  wards,  as  com 
pleted  in  the  polling  places,  showed  a  majority 
for  Carver,  Marsh's  candidate,  in  each  ward, 
forty-seven  in  the  fifth  and  sixty-two  in  the  sixth. 
McManus  had  his  election  officials  in  constant 
consultation  with  him.  He  had  engaged  several 
of  the  best  lawyers  in  Morganville.  Marsh  was 
to  handle  the  case  for  his  faction. 

Morganville  boiled.  Meetings  of  protest  were 
held  each  day.  The  street  corners  were  occupied 
by  arguing,  gesticulating  men,  some  upholding 
Marsh's  fraud  contentions  and  some  standing  by 
McManus.  There  were  frequent  fights.  The 
few  policemen  in  Morganville  knew  everybody,  of 
course,  and  made  no  arrests  when  the  McManus 
men  were  getting  the  better  of  these  encounters, 
but  as  they  owed  their  positions  to  McManus  they 
promptly  arrested  every  Marsh  man  who  had  a 
McManus  man  down  and  yelling  for  mercy,  and 
the  police  judge,  also  a  McManus  appointee,  fined 
the  Marsh  disturbers  of  the  peace  ten  dollars  for 
the  first  offence  and  threatened  jail  for  the  second. 

It  was  noticed  that  a  good  many  men  who 
had  been  counted  for  McManus  took  no  part 
in  the  controversy.  They  had  supported  Hoover 
under  protest,  under  duress,  indeed,  for  even  the 
most  ardent  of  the  McManus  partisans  admitted 


[THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     191 

privately  they  thought  the  boss  had  gone  too 
far  when  he  nominated  Hoover.  McManus  had 
put  on  every  screw  he  could.  He  forced  various 
so-called  leading  citizens  to  uphold  his  contention, 
because  of  financial  or  other  obligations  to  him, 
and  he  was  in  constant  conference  with  his  election 
officials. 

It  is  doubtful  if  McManus  had  more  than  two 
hours'  sleep  a  night  between  the  election  and  the 
court  hearing.  He  appeared  before  Judge  Lim- 
bert  pale,  his  eyes  deep  sunk,  his  lips  thin  and 
bloodless,  but  his  cigar  stuck  jauntily  out  of  the 
corner  of  his  mouth  and  his  spirit  seemed  indomit 
able.  Marsh  was  in  little  better  case.  He  felt 
that  on  the  evidence  at  hand  he  would  lose,  and 
that  the  Hoover  returns  would  be  accepted.  He 
had  ransacked  the  fifth  and  sixth  wards,  the  river 
wards,  and  had  found  proof  that  floaters  brought 
in  by  McManus  had  voted  and  that  there  had  been 
some  repeating.  Still,  even  if  all  the  votes  of  the 
floaters  he  had  discovered  and  all  the  repeaters 
who  had  managed  to  vote  twice  —  once  in  each 
ward  —  were  thrown  out,  Hoover  remained  win 
ner  on  the  face  of  the  returns. 

It  was  his  intention  to  show  as  much  fraud  as 
he  could,  make  the  bold  claim  that  the  returns  had 
been  altered  in  McManus'  office,  and  trust  to  pub 
lic  sentiment,  which  unmistakably  was  with  him'. 
He  examined  the  suspected  sheets  carefully. 
They  seemed  regular  in  every  way.  He  looked 
for  traces  of  erasure  in  the  figure  columns,  and 
there  appeared  to  be  none.  It  was  a  clever  job, 


192  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

if  it  was  a  job,  and  he  was  convinced  it  was,  for 
his  watchers  held  to  their  stories  of  the  figures 
that  were  on  the  returns  they  saw  filled  out  in  the 
polling  places,  and  he  believed  them.  Marsh  was 
sure  McManus  had  changed  the  sheets,  and  he 
was  forced  to  admit  that  the  plot  was  ingeniously 
planned  and  perfectly  executed. 

The  courtroom  was  jammed.  McManus  had 
half  a  dozen  lawyers.  The  court  attendants  had 
allowed  McManus  adherents  in  the  room  almost 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  Marsh  partisans.  Mc 
Manus  smiled  sneeringly  at  Marsh  and  jeered  at 
him,  but  Marsh  was  not  particularly  concerned  at 
that,  for  he  had  won  his  own  election  to  Congress 
by  a  small  majority,  and  he  felt  he  had  two  years 
ahead  of  him  in  which  to  continue  the  work  of  de 
posing  McManus,  even  if  Hoover  was  declared 
elected. 

The  proceedings  were  quiet  and  nonsensational. 
Both  sides  submitted  their  affidavits  and  Judge 
Limbert  decided  to  hear  oral  testimony.  Wit 
nesses  were  called.  They  testified  to  the  voting 
of  floaters,  to  the  repeating  done  by  these  floaters 
—  men  not  entitled  to  vote  in  Morganville  who 
had  been  brought  in  by  McManus  and  colonised 
in  cheap  shacks  by  the  river  for  a  sufficient  time 
to  enable  them  to  get  on  the  polling  lists.  Marsh 
put  Riordan  and  Jake  Spindler  on  the  stand,  and 
both  swore  they  had  seen  the  original  returns, 
on  which  Carver  had  forty-seven  majority  in  the 
fifth  ward  and  sixty-two  in  the  sixth.  These  wit- 


THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     193 

nesses  were  closely  cross-questioned  by  the  Mc- 
Manus  lawyers,  but  stuck  to  their  stories. 

Ernest  Williams,  the  political  reporter  of  the 
Gazette,  told  what  he  had  seen  on  the  street, 
how  a  carriage  drove  up  and  Trevelyan  and  two 
others  went  upstairs  to  McManus'  headquarters, 
and  how  Trevelyan  left  in  about  twenty  minutes 
and  went  to  the  city  hall.  Dan  Leary,  who  was 
copying  returns  that  night  for  the  Gazette  at  the 
city  hall,  swore  it  was  his  impression  that  Trevel 
yan  brought  in  the  returns  at  the  time  Williams 
saw  Trevelyan  go  to  the  city  hall.  Evidence  was 
introduced  showing  that  the  earlier  police  reports 

—  unofficial,  of  course  —  had  given  the  two  wards 
to  Carver,  thus  insuring  his  election.     This  com 
pleted  Marsh's  case. 

McManus'  men  went  on  the  stand  one  after  the 
other  and  swore  glibly  that  the  original  figures 
were  as  they  appeared  on  the  sheets  filed  at  the 
city  hall.  The  police  denied  any  voting  by  floaters 
or  repeating.  Trevelyan  admitted  visiting  the 
two  wards,  but  said  he  had  gone  merely  to  see  if 
it  was  possible  to  hurry  up  the  returns,  that  the 
messengers  left  a  little  before  he  arrived  in  the 
fifth  ward,  and  that  his  visit  to  McManus  was  to 
tell  the  boss  that  the  returns  were  all  in.  He  said 

—  swore  rather  —  that  he  went  to  the  city  hall  to 
change  his  trousers,  as  he  had  accidentally  rubbed 
against  the  hub  of  the  carriage  when  getting  out 
of  it  in  a  hurry  and  had  smeared  his  usually  im 
maculate  pantaloons  with  axle  grease,  a  condition 


I94          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

which  he,  as  a  fastidious  dresser,  could  not  abide 
even  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  on  the  de 
serted  streets  of  Morganville. 

The  McManus  men  were  explicit  and  Marsh 
could  not  budge  one  of  them.  He  cross-examined 
them,  using  all  his  skill,  but  with  no  results.  They 
doggedly  hung  to  their  stones  that  the  original 
returns  showed  substantial  majorities  for  Hoover 
in  the  two  disputed  wards.  The  last  of  the  Mc 
Manus  election  officials  was  a  man  named  Strowl- 
ski,  a  Pole,  who  was  the  McManus  leader  in  the 
sixth  ward,  where  there  was  a  considerable  settle 
ment  of  Strowlski's  countrymen.  He  was  ques 
tioned  by  the  McManus  lawyers  and  testified 
smoothly  to  his  share  in  the  counting  and  to  what 
the  count  showed.  He  had  the  figures  by  heart  and 
recited  them  almost  before  he  was  asked  what 
they  were.  Marsh  took  him  in  hand  when  the 
McManus  lawyer  had  finished,  but  questioned  him 
rather  perfunctorily.  Marsh  was  quite  certain 
he  was  beaten,  and  was  already  planning  to  take 
the  matter  to  another  court  in  some  other  way. 
Judge  Limbert  was  much  interested,  and  from 
time  to  time  questioned  the  witnesses  himself  on 
some  point  he  wanted  cleared. 

Marsh  went  over  every  detail  of  Strowlski's 
evidence  with  that  witness.  He  was  just  about  to 
dismiss  him,  and  was  arranging  some  papers  on 
his  table,  when  he  asked,  almost  without  knowl 
edge  himself  of  what  the  question  was,  so  great 
was  his  preoccupation:  "  I  suppose,  Mr.  Strowlski, 
that  you  destroyed  the  ballots  according  to  law." 


THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     195 

"  No  !  "  replied  Strowlski. 

"  What!  "  shouted  Marsh,  jumping  to  his  feet 
with  such  haste  that  he  overturned  his.  chair. 
"You  didn't  destroy  the  ballots?  " 

"No!" 

Instantly  every  McManus  lawyer  was  on  his 
feet,  protesting  this  was  irrelevant  and  incon 
sequential  and  had  no  bearing  on  the  case,  and 
asking  that  the  answers  of  the  witness  be  stricken 
from  the  record. 

McManus  started  up,  gesticulated  wildly  at 
Strowlski,  and  that  amiable  person  sat  gazing  in 
amazement  at  the  disturbance  his  innocent  answer 
had  created. 

Judge  Limbert  rapped  for  order.  "  The  wit 
ness  may  proceed,"  he  said.  "  It  seems  to  the 
Court  that  his  testimony  is  particularly  relevant 
at  this  point." 

"  What  did  you  do  with  them?  "  asked  Marsh, 
trembling  with  excitement  and  walking  close  to  the 
witness-stand. 

"  Put  them  back  in  the  box,"  Strowlski  replied, 
dazed  at  the  attitude  of  McManus,  who  glared 
at  him  malignantly. 

There  was  a  commotion  near  the  door.  John 
nie  Trevelyan  was  running  down  the  aisle.  Sev 
eral  McManus  men  were  rushing  to  get  out. 

"  Officers !  "  ordered  Judge  Limbert  sharply, 
"  you  will  close  the  doors  and  allow  no  one  to  go 
out  or  enter  until  I  give  permission." 

McManus  sank  back  into  his  seat  with  a  groan. 
Marsh  continued  his  questioning,  speaking  kindly 


196  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

to  the  witness,  who  was  almost  in  collapse  by  this 
time.  He  knew  he  had  told  something  he  should 
not  have  told,  but  his  slow  brain  hadn't  yet  com 
prehended  what  it  was.  He  looked  pitifully  at 
McManus.  The  McManus  lawyers  were  in  ex 
cited  consultation.  Marsh  continued: 

"  You  put  the  ballots  back  in  the  box?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"What  box,  Mr.  Strowlski?" 

'  The  box  we  used  —  the  ballot  box,  you 
know." 

"  Oh,  yes,  the  ballot  box.  And  what  became 
of  the  ballot  box?  " 

"  Next  day,  I  suppose,  they  took  it  back  to  the 
city  hall  where  they  store  them.  I  don't  know. 
They  always  do  come  round  after  the  boxes  and 
keep  them  in  the  city  hall  cellar." 

"  So  far  as  you  know,  then,  the  sixth-ward 
ballots  are  in  the  box  and  the  box  is  in  the  cellar 
of  the  city  hall?  " 

11  Yes,  sir." 

Marsh  turned  in  triumph  to  the  judge :  "  If 
the  Court  please,"  he  said,  "  I  think  there  has 
come  a  providential  admission  into  this  case.  If 
these  ballots  were  not  destroyed  and  are  still  in 
that  ballot  box  in  the  cellar  of  the  city  hall,  the 
merits  of  this  contention  can  easily  be  decided.  I 
suggest,  Your  Honour,  that  two  men,  one  from 
each  side,  be  dispatched  by  the  court  to  bring  those 
fifth  and  sixth  ward  ballots  here,  and  that  the 
ballots  be  examined  in  this  court." 

"  I  shall  so  order,"  said  the  judge. 


THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     197 

The  McManus  lawyers  began  passionate  pro 
tests.  They  contended  the  court  had  no  jurisdic 
tion  in  the  matter,  that  the  court  was  not  an 
election  canvassing  board,  that  the  returns  were 
the  only  subject  under  consideration,  that  this  was 
entirely  extraneous  and  irrelevant  to  the  conten 
tion,  and  that  it  couldn't  be  done  legally  or  in  any 
other  way. 

Judge  Limbert  smiled  grimly.  "  The  proceed 
ings  will  be  suspended,"  he  said,  "  until  the  ballot 
boxes  from  the  fifth  and  sixth  wards  are  produced 
in  court.  Is  the  city  clerk  here?  " 

Johnnie  Trevelyan,  who  had  been  battling 
vainly  with  the  court  attendants  at  the  door, 
turned  sulkily  and  said:  "Here,  sir." 

'  Then,"  said  the  judge,  "  I  shall  ask  you,  Mr. 
City  Clerk,  to  go  with  Mr.  Whiteside  for  Mr. 
Marsh,  and  Mr.  Langley  for  Mr.  McManus,  to 
the  room  where  the  ballot  boxes  are  stored,  ac 
companied  by  two  officers  whom  I  shall  detail, 
allow  them  access  to  the  room,  and  see  to  it  that 
the  identical  boxes,  untampered  with  and  locked, 
are  produced  forthwith  in  this  court." 

Trevelyan  looked  despairingly  at  McManus, 
who  sat  with  his  head  bowed,  chewing  savagely 
at  an  unlighted  cigar. 

"  Go  at  once,"  ordered  the  judge  emphatically. 
Whiteside  and  Langley  went  out.  Two  court  at 
tendants  and  Johnnie  Trevelyan  trailed  along  be 
hind. 

'  The  hearing  will  suspend,  pending  the  arrival 
of  the  ballot  boxes,"  ordered  the  judge. 


i98  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Marsh's  supporters  crowded  round  him  eagerly. 
"What  does  it  mean?"  they  asked.  "What 
does  it  mean?  " 

"  It  means,"  said  Marsh  reverently,  "  that  God 
moves  in  a  mysterious  way  his  wonders  to  per 
form.  It  means  that  Bob  McManus  over  there 
is  going  to  prison,  and  that  this  disreputable  con 
spiracy  that  has  so  long  existed  to  control  the 
politics  of  this  city  and  county  is  ended,  smashed. 
It  means  — " 

Marsh  was  intensely  in  earnest  If  the  ballots 
were  in  the  box  they  would,  he  firmly  believed, 
show  that  Carver  had  carried  the  sixth  ward  and 
that  the  presumption  would  be  that  he  carried  the 
fifth  ward  also.  He  was  jubiliant,  and  he  walked 
over  to  McManus  and  said :  "  I've  got  you,  Mc 
Manus,  and  you  know  it!  " 

McManus  made  no  reply.  He  was  very  pale. 
His  fingers  twitched.  His  deep-sunk  eyes  burned. 
His  lawyers  surrounded  him  and  planned  delay, 
anything  to  save  him.  McManus  paid  no  heed. 
He  sat  with  his  head  bowed  and  chewed  at  his 
cigar. 

Ten  minutes  later  the  court  attendants  carry 
ing  two  ballot  boxes,  came  in  with  Whiteside 
and  Langley.  Johnny  Trevelyan  was  not  with 
them. 

The  boxes  were  placed  on  the  bench  in  front  of 
Judge  Limbert.  The  McManus  lawyers  pro 
tested  the  proceeding  was  extraordinary  and  ir 
regular. 

"  That  may  be,"  said  the  judge,  "  but  this  is  an 


THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     199 

extraordinary  situation.  You  may  note  an  ex 
ception,  if  you  wish,  but  I  shall  proceed." 

A  long  table  was  moved  up  in  front  to  the 
judge's  bench.  Whiteside  was  appointed  a  teller 
for  the  Marsh  side  and  Langley  for  the  McManus 
side.  The  fifth-ward  box  was  opened  first.  It 
was  empty. 

"  You  see,  Your  Honour,"  said  a  McManus 
lawyer.  "  The  whole  thing  is  absurd." 

"  There's  something  in  the  other,"  Whiteside 
whispered  to  Marsh. 

"  Open  the  other  box !  "  ordered  the  judge. 

Every  person  in  the  courtroom,  including  the 
judge,  leaned  forward  eagerly,  except  Strowlski, 
who  had  been  forgotten.  He  sat  dejectedly  on 
the  witness-stand,  looking  pathetically  now  and 
then  at  McManus. 

The  court  attendant  fumbled  with  the  fasten 
ings,  lifted  the  lid,  and  Marsh,  who  was  standing 
just  behind  him,  raised  his  hand  high  above  his 
head  and  shouted:  "They're  there!  They're 
there!" 

"  Order  in  the  court,"  boomed  the  crier. 

Every  person  in  the  room  had  been  holding  his 
breath,  and  at  Marsh's  shout  there  came  a 
long-drawn  "Ah-h-h!"  Strowlski  crouched  and 
shivered  in  his  chair.  He  didn't  know  what  he 
had  done,  but  he  knew  he  had  done  something  that 
had  injured  the  boss. 

"  Are  the  ballots  in  the  box?  "  asked  the  judge. 

'  Yes,  Your  Honour,"  answered  the  attendant. 

"  Turn  them  out  on  the  table  and  let  the  count 


200  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

proceed.  Officers,  clear  the  space  round  the  table 
and  allow  no  one  to  approach  until  the  count  is 
finished." 

The  ballots  made  a  little  rumpled  pile  of  paper. 
They  were  creased  and  marked  and  dirty,  but  to 
Marsh  they  looked  like  etchings  done  by  a  master. 

The  court  stenographer  was  made  clerk  for  the 
tellers  and  took  a  long  sheet  of  paper.  He  wrote 
the  names  "  Hoover "  and  "  Carver "  on  the 
paper,  and  sharpened  a  pencil  preparatory  to  his 
work.  Whiteside  and  Langley  examined  each 
ballot.  As  they  finished  the  examination  they  an 
nounced  "  One  for  Hoover  "  or  "  One  for  Car 
ver,"  and  the  clerk  made  a  mark  in  the  proper 
column.  When  he  had  four  perpendicular  marks 
he  drew  the  fifth  mark  slantingly  across  the  four, 
thus  dividing  the  count  into  blocks  of  five. 

There  were  seven  hundred  and  ninety-two  bal 
lots  in  the  box,  and  the  count  took  a  long  time. 
Few  persons  left  the  courtroom.  Most  of  those 
present  kept  tally  themselves  on  backs  of  envelopes 
and  on  scraps  of  paper.  The  count  continued 
evenly  for  two  hours.  It  was  very  close.  Then 
Carver  began  to  run  ahead. 

Finally  Whiteside  said:  "  The  count  is  finished, 
Your  Honour." 

"What  do  you  find?" 

"  We  find  that  William  B.  Hoover  received 
365  votes  and  Robert  R.  Carver  received  427." 

"  Sixty-two  majority!  "  shouted  Marsh. 

There  was  a  wild  yell  from  the  Marsh  adher- 


THE  STUPIDITY  OF  STROWLSKI     201 

ents,  a  yell  of  triumph  and  a  yell  of  derision.  Mc- 
Manus  sat  motionless  in  his  chair. 

"Order  in  the  court!"  boomed  the  crier. 
"Order  in  the  court!  " 

Judge  Limbert  looked  at  Marsh.  "  Mr. 
Marsh,"  he  said,  "  the  court  has  no  doubt  that 
your  contention  has  been  upheld  and  will  continue 
the  injunction  until  such  time  as  you  desire  it 
vacated.  In  the  meantime,  other  remedial  meas 
ures  will  doubtless  suggest  themselves." 

All  Morganville  knew  of  the  result  in  half  an 
hour.  There  was  a  great  impromptu  meeting  at 
the  opera  house,  at  which  Marsh  made  a  speech, 
earnest,  but  good-tempered,  counselling  immediate 
action  against  the  men  who  had  tried  to  debauch 
the  election.  In  it  he  tentatively  announced  he 
would  assume  the  leadership  of  the  Republican 
party  for  the  city  and  county  and  district.  Wil 
liam  B.  Hoover  came  out  with  a  card  in  the  after 
noon  newspapers  saying  he  had  no  desire  to  con 
tinue  a  contest  for  an  office  he  had  not  fairly  won 
and  disclaiming  any  participation  in  the  frauds. 
McManus  had  retired  to  his  headquarters.  Not 
more  than  six  of  his  former  supporters  followed 
him  there.  Most  of  them  were  at  the  opera- 
house  meeting  cheering  for  Marsh. 


XVIII 

MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER 


f~  "^HERE  were  enough  men  on  the  county 
committee  who  were  willing  to  depose 
McManus  as  chairman  to  sign  a  call 

-A-  for  a  meeting,  and  the  call  was  issued 
and  the  meeting  held.  McManus  was  deposed 
and  Marsh  elected  in  his  stead.  Marsh  devoted 
the  next  two  weeks  to  perfecting  his  organisation. 
A  special  grand  jury  was  impanelled  to  consider 
the  election  frauds,  and  at  the  suggestion  of 
Marsh  enough  delays  were  secured  to  postpone 
action  until  after  January  first,  when  Carver  came 
into  office  as  district  attorney. 

McManus  was  seen  but  little  about  the  streets. 
He  remained  at  home.  A  few  of  his  friends 
were  loyal  to  him,  but  not  many.  He  was  nervous, 
irritable  and  depressed.  His  power  was  gone. 
He  had  plenty  of  money,  however,  and  his  case 
dragged  through  the  courts  for  two  years,  when 
he  was  fined,  and  left  Morganville  to  live  in 
Southern  California.  Johnnie  Trevelyan  was  not 
heard  of  for  several  years.  Then  a  Morganville 
tourist  discovered  him  working  as  a  clerk  in  a  hotel 
in  Portland,  Oregon.  He  was  still  an  advanced 
dresser,  but  had  changed  his  name  to  William  P. 
Jones. 

203 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          203 

Mrs.  Marsh  had  taken  Dorothy  to  Washing 
ton  in  September  and  had  insisted  on  placing  her 
in  a  most  fashionable  institution  for  young  ladies. 
Marsh  was  so  busy  with  his  politics  he  did  not 
say  much,  and  was  not  fully  aware  of  the  change 
until  he  was  notified  that  his  daughter's  expenses 
would  be  more  than  double  what  they  were  the 
year  before.  He  was  inclined  to  take  the  girl 
out  of  school,  but  Mrs.  Marsh  protested  so  vig 
orously,  and  proved  so  conclusively,  to  her  think 
ing  at  any  rate,  the  change  meant  a  great  social 
advance  for  all  the  Marshes,  that  he  finally  con 
sented.  Dorothy's  desires  were  not  considered 
by  Mrs.  Marsh. 

Marsh  had  little  money  ahead  when  he  got  back 
to  Washington.  He  had  borrowed  five  thousand 
dollars  from  Senator  Paxton  for  his  campaign  ex 
penses,  and  it  had  cost  him  all  of  that  and  a  good 
deal  more  to  elect  Carver  and  himself.  There 
had  been  some  contributions,  but  not  many,  for 
Morganville  held  Marsh  to  be  well-to-do,  so  that 
though  they  were  anxious  and  eager  to  help  him 
with  advice  and  counsel,  and  criticised  freely,  they 
were  not  liberal  with  cash.  Paxton  said  Marsh 
need  be  in  no  hurry  about  returning  the  money  he 
owed,  and  apparently  meant  what  he  said,  so 
Marsh  did  not  let  his  indebtedness  to  the  senator 
worry  him.  He  did  worry,  though,  about  the  in 
creased  expenses  for  his  daughter's  accomplish 
ment  and  finishing,  and  about  Mrs.  Marsh's  de 
termination  to  have  several  new  gowns,  which, 


204  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

she  said,  she  thought  she  might  manage  for  eight 
or  nine  hundred  dollars  or  at  most  a  thousand. 

"  Well,  Jim,"  said  Senator  Paxton  a  few  days 
after  Marsh  returned  to  Washington,  "  the  firm 
of  Paxton  and  Marsh  starts  out  like  a  winner." 

"  Yes,"  Marsh  replied,  "  it's  all  right  politic 
ally,  but  I  want  to  tell  you  the  junior  partner  in 
the  combination  is  no  John  D.  Rockefeller  finan 
cially." 

"Are  you  broke?" 

"  Broke  is  no  name  to  it.  I'm  smashed.  I'm 
flatter  than  a  flounder.  My  salary  is  in  hock  now 
for  as  much  as  the  disbursing  officer  will  let  me 
have,  and  I've  got  to  find  some  cash  pretty  soon 
or  go  into  genteel  bankruptcy." 

"Is  that  so?"  The  senator  seemed  deeply 
concerned. 

"  It's  so-er  than  anything  you  know." 

Senator  Paxton  pursed  his  lips,  tapped  with  his 
fingers  on  the  edge  of  his  desk.  "  Well,"  he  said, 
after  a  moment's  thought,  "  maybe  something  will 
turn  up.  Meantime  I  can  let  you  have  a  thousand 
or  so  if  it  will  help  you  out." 

Marsh  took  a  check  for  a  thousand  dollars. 
He  hated  himself  when  he  took  it,  but  he  had  to 
have  the  money.  He  felt  humiliated;  but  Paxton 
made  light  of  the  affair,  and  told  Marsh  he  was 
sure  there  would  be  a  financial  opportunity  before 
the  session  was  over,  and  not  to  bother  about  re 
payment  until  it  was  easy. 

The  Marshes  were  at  the  same  hotel  where  they 
had  stayed  the  previous  year,  the  Dewilton.  Mrs. 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          205 

Marsh  had  announced  her  arrival  to  the  society 
editors  and  was  planning  to  resume  her  social 
activities  immediately.  Inklings  of  the  fight 
Marsh  had  made  and  its  dramatic  ending  had 
trickled  into  Washington,  and  a  correspondent 
who  knew  Marsh  had  made  a  Sunday  story  of  it 
for  his  paper,  with  Marsh's  picture  two  columns 
wide.  Marsh  found  he  was  somewhat  of  a  per 
sonage  when  Congress  met,  and  was  pleased  to 
note  that  the  organisation  leaders  were  affable  and 
agreeable  and  apparently  knew  he  was  a  member. 
He  attended  his  committee  meetings  regularly, 
and  had  a  chance  to  make  a  speech  that  attracted 
some  attention. 

"  I  see  you  are  getting  your  name  into  the 
papers,"  observed  Senator  Paxton  one  day  when 
he  and  Marsh  were  talking  together. 

"Oh,  yes,"  yawned  Marsh;  "the  reporters 
pester  me  a  good  deal." 

"  Aha !  "  said  Paxton.  "  So  that's  your  atti 
tude,  is  it  —  bothered  by  the  reporters  !  Well ! 
Well !  That,  I  should  say,  is  a  crying  shame. 
There  is  only  one  other  thing  I  can  think  of  that 
equals  it  for  downright  discomfort,  and  that  is 
not  to  be  pestered  by  the  reporters.  Jim,  you  go 
and  take  a  long  look  at  yourself  in  the  glass. 
You  will  observe  a  rather  sturdy,  good-looking 
person,  who  owes  about  all  he  has  got  to  the  re 
porters  who  are  pestering  him,  as  he  says.  If  the 
reporters  hadn't  mentioned  you  you  would  be  back: 
there  in  Morganville  practising  law.  Don't  for 
Heaven's  sake  assume  with  me  that  pose  of  in- 


2o"6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

difference  to  publicity.  It  may  go  with  some  of 
the  weak-minded  ones,  but  never  with  me.' 

"  Let  me  tell  you  something.  The  pose  of  in 
difference  to  what  the  newspapers  say  about  you 
is  the  first  and  one  of  the  greatest  signs  of  that 
political  hypocrisy  that  is  crystallised  here  in  this 
Washington  outfit.  There  isn't  a  man  in  this 
Congress  or  in  this  Government  who  is  indiffer 
ent  to  publicity,  who  doesn't  yearn  for  pleasant 
references  to  himself  in  the  papers,  who  doesn't 
read  and  reread  everything  complimentary  that  is 
said  about  himself.  It  is  the  public  boast  of  one 
of  the  biggest  men  in  the  Senate  that  he  cares 
nothing  for  what  the  papers  say  about  him,  and 
never  reads  them;  but  I  know  absolutely  that  each 
clipping  bureau  in  this  country  has  standing  or 
ders  from  him  to  send  him  every  item  they  can 
find  that  has  his  name  in  it. 

''  We  affect  to  think  we  are  hardened  to  criti 
cism,  and  all  the  time  we  hate  it,  loathe  it.  We 
smile  in  a  superior  way  and  say:  '  Oh,  well,  the 
boys  have  to  have  something  to  fill  up  with,'  when 
ever  they  print  a  pleasant  story  about  us,  and  pri 
vately  we  gloat  over  the  mention  of  our  names. 
Get  off  that  pose,  Jim !  Get  all  the  publicity  you 
can.  We  need  it.  It  is  our  staff  of  life.  It 
works  two  ways  —  we  love  it  and  we  fear  it.  In 
the  old  days  it  was  possible  to  do  a  good  many 
things  we  can't  do  now,  because  the  reporters  were 
not  so  numerous  and  the  news-distributing  facili 
ties  not  in  the  present  perfected  state.  Now  those 
chaps  are  looking  into  everything,  and  you  don't 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          207 

want  to  be  pestered  by  them.  You  want  to  pester 
them  instead,  or  cultivate  them  rather,  for  they 
can  make  you  or  they  can  mar  you,  and  it's  all  in 
the  day's  work  with  that  crowd  of  enterprising 
persons. 

"  Most  public  men  take  a  wrong  view  of  the 
business  of  the  reporter.  They  think  the  reporter 
comes  to  them  because  he  needs  them.  That  isn't 
it.  The  reporter  comes  to  see  a  public  man  be 
cause  that  is  the  way  he  makes  his  living.  He 
would  much  prefer  to  be  having  his  own  fun  than 
to  be  chasing  after  a  statesman,  who  nine  times 
out  of  ten  he  has  sized  up  to  a  gnat's  heel  as  to 
his  intrinsic  bogusness  and  his  defects  and  desires. 
The  man  who  gets  along  with  the  highly  essential 
newspaper  crowd  isn't  the  man  who  patronises 
them,  which  they  resent,  or  the  man  who  affects 
to  consider  them  of  no  consequence  in  his  career, 
but  the  man  who  meets  them  face  to  face,  treats 
them  squarely,  tells  them  the  truth  and  doesn't 
try  to  weigh  them  down  with  confidences.  Re 
porters  don't  want  confidential  information. 
They  want  stuff  they  can  print.  They  are  wise. 
Most  of  them  were  here  when  we  came,  and  many 
who  are  here  now  will  be  here  when  we  go.  They 
know  the  game,  and  it  is  hard  to  deceive  them. 
All  you've  got  to  do  to  be  squarely  treated  is  to 
treat  them  squarely.  They  want  no  favours. 
They  don't  hanker  for  your  companionship. 
Quit  trying  to  fool  yourself  on  this  newspaper 
business,  Jim,  and  go  out  and  play  it  straight.  You 
need  all  the  publicity  you  can  get,  if  you  are  square, 


208  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

and  you  don't  need  any  if  you  are  not  square. 
You  can  help  the  first  and  you  can't  stop  the  sec 
ond  kind.  That's  all  there  is  to  that." 

Paxton  walked  over  to  Marsh  and  patted  him 
on  the  shoulder.  "  I'll  bet  you  a  box  of  cigars," 
he  said,  "  that  although  you  are  pestered  by  re 
porters,  you've  got  a  clipping  of  that  Sunday  story 
with  your  picture  at  the  top  of  it  in  your  inside 
pocket  this  minute." 

Marsh  blushed.  He  had.  "Oh,  well,"  he 
said,  u  I  didn't  mean  exactly  what  I  said." 

"  Of  course  not,  and  be  careful  you  never  do 
mean  it.  A  public  man  without  publicity  becomes 
a  private  man  so  quickly  it  makes  his  head  swim." 

Marsh  thought  a  good  deal  about  what  the 
senator  had  said,  and  was  impressed  when  Mrs. 
Marsh  told  him  incidentally  that  she  considered 
the  society  columns  in  the  newspapers  to  be  the 
greatest  levers  for  social  success  in  Washington. 

"  Certainly !  "  commented  Mrs.  Lyster,  who 
was  sitting  with  them  in  the  hotel  parlour  when 
Mrs.  Marsh  made  this  remark.  "  If  there  is  to 
be  no  mention  of  a  function  in  the  newspapers  a 
function  might  as  well  not  be  given.  What  ad 
vantage  is  it  to  a  hostess  to  wrork  and  worry  and 
plan  and  scheme  and  intrigue  to  get  distinguished 
people  to  come  to  her  dinners  or  to  attend  her 
parties,  unless  the  world  knows  she  is  able  to 
snare  those  distinguished  personages?  How  can 
she  be  repaid  for  all  the  expense  and  trouble  and 
the  jealousy  and  the  criticism  and  the  social  am- 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          209 

bitions  that  run  counter  to  hers,  except  by  having 
the  world  know,  through  the  kindly  ministrations 
of  the  society  editors,  that  this  hostess  has  at 
tained  sufficient  position  to  drag  these  honoured 
guests  to  her  house?  If  the  newspapers  were  to 
abolish  the  society  columns  the  number  of  social 
affairs  in  this  town  would  dwindle  to  nothing. 
And  that  means  every  kind  of  social  affair,  from 
the  biggest  down  to  the  most  modest,  except,  of 
course,  family  dinner  parties  where  real  friends 
are  asked  in. 

"  It  is  amusing  to  watch  their  efforts,"  con 
tinued  Mrs.  Lyster.  "  One  month  I  kept  track 
of  the  various  paragraphs  —  sent  in  by  herself  of 
course  —  about  a  young  woman  who  is  in  what  I 
call  the  near-cabinet  set,  the  wife  of  an  assistant 
secretary,  you  know.  Well,  in  the  thirty-one  days 
of  that  month  there  were  exactly  forty-two  items 
about  that  ambitious  social  leader,  detailing  her 
every  movement.  If  she  expected  a  guest  the  ex 
pectation  was  announced,  then  the  arrival,  then 
the  fact  that  the  guest  was  there,  then  the  pro 
jected  departure  of  the  guest,  then  the  actual  de 
parture,  and  then  on  the  following  Sunday  a  re 
sume  of  the  entire  matter.  And  there  are  dozens 
just  like  her.  The  society  columns  in  the  news 
papers  may  be  predicated  on  society,  but  more 
than  that,  far  more,  is  society  predicated  on  the 
society  columns.  We  simply  couldn't  exist  with 
out  those  aids  to  our  advancement." 

Marsh  looked  at  his  wife  and  grinned.     Mrs. 


210          THE  PRICE  OK  PLACE 

Marsh  said  nothing,  but  when  they  went  upstairs 
she  remarked:  "Curiously  old-fashioned  ideas 
Mrs.  Lyster  has,  don't  you  think?  " 

"  Oh,  I  guess  her  views  are  open  to  argument," 
Marsh  replied. 

"  Well,  James  " —  she  had  decided  she  would 
call  her  husband  James,  as  better  fitting  the  dig 
nity  of  their  advanced  positions  than  the  Jim  of 
former  days  — "  Well,  James,  I  do  not  intend 
to  argue  with  you,  and  I  think  it  is  best  for  you 
to  know  that  we  are  giving  a  dinner  in  a  fort 
night." 

"  What  kind  of  a  dinner?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  Oh,  a  big  dinner  —  thirty  or  forty  guests.  I 
have  the  invitation  list  ready." 

"  And  where  are  we  to  hold  this  function,  at 
a  dairy-lunch  place?" 

"  We  are  not.     It  is  to  be  given  at  Bangle's." 

"Bangle's!  Why,  Bangle  is  the  most  expen 
sive  caterer  in  this  town,  and  that  means  he's  the 
most  expensive  on  earth." 

"  And  the  most  fashionable,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh, 
"  which  is  precisely  why  our  dinner  is  to  be  given 
there." 

"  But,  Molly,  it  will  cost  a  heap  of  money." 

"  I  don't  care  if  it  costs  ten  thousand  dollars. 
We're  going  to  give  the  dinner  and  you've  got  to 
pay  for  it.  I  am  going  to  take  my  proper  place 
in  the  society  of  this  city.  Heretofore  all  my 
functions  have  been  shoddy  and  second-rate. 
Now  I'm  going  to  splurge.  I  have  prepared  the 
notices  for  the  papers  and  sent  them  in,  and  the 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          211 

cards  are  being  engraved,  so  you  can't  back 
out." 

Marsh  made  no  reply,  but  he  wondered  where 
the  money  was  coming  from.  Mrs.  Marsh  spent 
the  next  two  days  over  her  invitation  lists.  She 
had  carefully  saved  the  cards  of  those  who  had 
called  on  her  and  who  were  above  the  ordinary 
congressional  rank,  and  she  sorted  those  cards 
over  and  over.  She  planned  for  a  dinner  for 
thirty  persons  and  sent  out  invitations  to  the  forty 
most  desirable  persons,  knowing  some  of  them 
would  decline,  and  she  had  a  second  and  even  a 
third  list  ready  for  emergencies. 

Marsh  couldn't  stop  the  dinner,  so  he  did  what 
he  could  to  help  it.  He  consulted  with  Mrs. 
Marsh  about  her  lists,  and  suggested  some  names, 
including  those  of  Quicksall  and  Rambo.  The 
invitations  went  out.  In  a  day  or  two  the  re 
sponses  began  to  come  in.  Marsh  returned  to  the 
hotel  on  the  third  night  and  found  Mrs.  Marsh 
crying. 

"  What's  the  matter,  Molly?"  he  asked. 

"  Only  six  of  the  people  we  invited  have  ac 
cepted,"  she  announced  tragically,  "  including 
Mrs.  Paxton  for  herself  and  the  senator  and  your 
friend  Quicksall.  The  rest  all  politely  regretted." 

"The  devil  they  did!"  exclaimed  Marsh, 
"Well,  what's  to  be  done?  Shall  we  give  the 
dinner  to  the  Paxtons  and  Quicksall  and  the  rest? 
That  would  suit  my  financial  condition." 

"  Oh,"  flared  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  you  are  always 
talking  about  expense !  I  should  think  you'd  find 


212  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

a  way  to  get  some  money  so  your  wife  could  take 
her  proper  place  here,  considering  all  the  friends 
you  have  and  all  your  influence." 

"Well,"  Marsh  spoke  slowly,  "what  would 
you  have  me  do  —  rob  the  treasury?  " 

"Don't  be  absurd!"  she  retorted.  "Others 
can  make  money  here;  why  not  you?  " 

Marsh  said  nothing  more.  Mrs.  Marsh  sent 
out  her  second  flight  of  invitations,  had  a  dozen 
acceptances  and  managed  to  get  together  a  party 
of  twenty-four.  To  be  sure  she  carefully  included 
the  names  of  those  "  invited  "  in  the  announce 
ment  she  sent  to  the  newspapers,  and  in  the  notice 
she  sent  in  on  the  night  of  the  dinner  contented 
herself  with  the  line,  "  among  those  present  were," 
which  included  only  the  biggest  ones  instead  of 
the  whole  list. 

It  was  a  mixed  company.  Senator  Paxton  and 
his  wife  were  there,  and  an  assistant  secretary  or 
two,  two  Latin-American  diplomats,  a  bureau 
chief  from  the  Treasury  Department,  an  army 
couple  and  the  rest  were  representatives.  The 
dinner  was  a  good  one,  correctly  served,  and  the 
party  was  jolly,  for  Mrs.  Marsh  had  much  tact, 
and  knew  what  to  do  to  make  people  comfortable 
at  a  function  of  this  kind,  even  if  some  of  the 
materials  were  not  up  to  the  original  standard 
she  had  set. 

Quicksall  had  walked  up  to  Bangle's  from  his 
hotel,  and  Marsh  took  him  back  in  the  carriage 
he  had  hired,  after  leaving  Mrs.  Marsh  at  the 
Dewilton, 


MRS.  MARSH'S  DINNER          213 

"  Nice  party,"  said  Quicksall. 
"  Pretty  good,"  Marsh  replied;  "  but  I'm  afraid 
Mrs.  Marsh  is  a  bit  disappointed." 
"Why?" 
"  Some  of  the  people  she  figured  on  couldn't 


come. 

<t 


Oh,  well,"  said  Quicksall,  "  she'll  get  them 
yet.  She's  going  to  win  at  this  game,  don't  worry 
about  that." 

Marsh  made  no  comment.  They  rode  in  si 
lence  for  a  minute  or  two  and  then  Quicksall 
asked,  quite  irrelevantly,  Marsh  thought: 
"  Made  any  money  lately?  " 

"  Not  much." 

'  Want  to  go  in  on  a  little  pool  in  copper?  " 

"  Copper?  " 

'  Yes,  there's  going  to  be  a  movement  pretty 
soon,  within  the  next  ten  days,  in  a  copper  stock 
I  know  about.  I  can  put  you  in  for  a  few  shares 
if  you  like." 

"  The  truth  is,  Quicksall,"  said  Marsh,  "  I'm 
practically  broke.  That  fight  of  mine  out  home 
took  about  all  my  money." 

"  Oh,"  Quicksall  replied,  as  if  that  were  a  mat 
ter  of  no  consequence,  "  I'll  carry  you  for  a  chunk 
of  it,  and  if  it  loses  we  can  settle  afterward." 


XIX 

HOOKED 

DOROTHY  MARSH  was  not  a  beau* 
tiful  girl,  in  the  sense  of  having  regu 
lar  features  and  perfect  proportions, 
but  by  the  time  she  was  nearing  her 
eighteenth  birthday  she  had  developed  into  a  most 
attractive  one.  She  had  the  black  hair  and  black 
eyes  of  her  father  and  her  colouring  was  exquisite. 
She  was  slender,  graceful,  animated  and  vivacious, 
was  fond  of  out-of-door  things  and  clever  at  her 
books.  Good-humoured  and  sensible,  like  her 
father,  she  was  inclined  to  look  on  her  mother's 
social  aspirations  as  rather  a  joke.  Although  she 
had  inherited  Mrs.  Marsh's  taste  for  dress  and 
her  tact  in  conversation,  Dorothy  did  not  share 
her  mother's  social  ambitions,  and  had  little  pa 
tience  with  the  endless  and,  as  she  thought,  stupid 
routine  of  Washington  society. 

Her  incarceration  —  for  such  she  considered  it 
—  in  the  fashionable  boarding  school  had  been 
quite  against  her  wishes,  but  she  tried  to  make  the 
best  of  it.  So  she  entered  into  all  the  amusements 
at  the  school,  and  studied  only  enough  to  main 
tain  herself  in  the  fairly  good  graces  of  her 
teachers.  She  solemnly  went  about  her  lessons 

214 


HOOKED  215 

in  deportment,  wherein  the  rigidly  correct  ladies 
who  had  the  girls  in  charge  taught  them  how  to 
enter  a  room,  how  to  leave  a  room,  how  to 
sit,  how  to  stand,  how  to  behave  at  table,  at 
reception,  in  a  receiving  line,  at  a  ball,  how  to 
eat,  how  to  sip  their  beverages  from  their  glasses, 
how  to  conduct  themselves  before  their  maids  — 
in  short,  made  perfect  ladies  out  of  them,  fash 
ioning  them,  as  well  as  they  were  able,  after  the 
accepted  ladylike  models  of  the  day.  Most  of  the 
other  girls  in  the  school  were  daughters  of 
rich  parents,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  had  been  obliged 
to  use  much  diplomacy  and  some  influence  to  get 
Dorothy  enrolled,  not  that  her  position  was  not 
as  good  as  that  of  the  daughter  of  the  manufactur 
ing  millionaire,  or  the  cotton-mill  owner,  but  be 
cause  the  Marsh  family  was  not  rated  very  high 
financially. 

One  afternoon  Marsh  was  called  to  the  tele 
phone  at  the  Capitol. 

"  It's  Dorothy,"  said  a  voice. 

"  Hello,  daughter,"  Marsh  replied.  "  What  is 
it?" 

"  Popsie,  I  want  to  have  a  talk  with  you." 

"  Come  over  to  the  hotel  then." 

"  That  wouldn't  do.  I  want  to  have  a  talk 
with  just  you." 

"  You  mean  you  don't  want  mamma  to  be 
round?  " 

"  Yes,  that's  exactly  what  I  mean.  Will  you 
take  me  to  dinner  somewhere?" 

"  I  can't  very  well  without  taking  your  mother. 


•2 1 6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Let's  see  —  but  how  can  you  get  away  at 
night?" 

Marsh  heard  a  little  laugh  at  the  end  of  the 
wire.  "  Don't  let  that  fuss  you,  popsie.  Just 
tell  me  where  I  can  have  a  chat  with  you." 

Marsh  thought  a  minute.  "  What  time  can 
you  get  out?"  he  asked. 

"  Half-past  seven." 

"  Well,  I'll  try  to  arrange  it  and  I'll  call  you 
on  the  phone  later." 

Marsh  called  up  the  Dewilton  and  asked  for 
Mrs.  Marsh.  "  What  are  you  doing  to-night, 
my  dear?  "  he  inquired. 

Mrs.  Marsh  said  she  had  a  club  meeting  to  at 
tend. 

"And  how  long  shall  you  be  busy?" 

Mrs.  Marsh  thought  she  would  be  home  by  ten 
o'clock,  and  asked  why  he  wanted  to  know. 

"  Oh,"  Marsh  lied  glibly,  "  I  have  a  conference 
to-night  and  I  wondered  what  your  plans  were. 
That's  all." 

He  rang  off  and  sent  a  note  to  Dorothy,  telling 
her  to  be  at  the  hotel  at  eight  o'clock.  Mrs. 
Marsh  had  gone  to  her  club  meeting  by  the  time 
Dorothy  danced  into  the  Marsh  rooms,  her  face 
aglow  with  excitement.  "Isn't  it  a  lark?"  she 
laughed.  "  Arranging  a  secret  meeting  with 
one's  own  father.  It's  really  quite  romantic!" 

Marsh  kissed  her.  He  was  devoted  to  his  vi 
vacious  daughter. 

;<  What  is  it,  Dodie?  "  he  asked,  using  her  baby 
name.  "  But  first  tell  me  how  you  got  out  of  that 


HOOKED  217 

prison  of  yours?  "  He  looked  at  her  sternly  and 
then  kissed  her  again. 

"  Promise  never  to  tell?" 

11  Never." 

;<  Well,  then,  I  came  out  by  the  back  door." 

"  Came  out  by  the  back  door?  But  how  did 
you  get  out  of  the  back  door?  " 

"  I  unlocked  it,  stupid,  and  walked  out,  walked 
right  out  in  the  exact  manner  Miss  Angeline  Prim, 
our  deportment  teacher,  informs  us  is  the  proper 
way  for  a  perfect  lady  to  leave  a  room.  Like 
this  " —  and  she  gave  her  father  an  exaggerated 
imitation  of  Miss  Prim's  correctest  method  of  po 
lite  departure  after  a  call  is  over. 

Marsh  laughed.  "Still,"  he  said,  "that 
doesn't  explain  how  you  got  a  key.  I  thought  all 
you  young  ladies  were  immured  in  that  school  ex 
cept  on  state  occasions,  when  your  teachers  or 
chaperones  take  you  out  for  the  air." 

"  That's  the  secret  —  that's  the  fatal  secret. 
Promise  again  you'll  never  tell,  not  even  mamma." 

"  I  promise!  " 

"  Well,"  said  Dorothy,  reaching  into  her  bag, 
"  here's  the  key."  She  produced  a  brass  key, 
which  Marsh  examined  curiously. 

"  Where  did  you  get  it?  " 

"  A  girl  let  me  take  it.  " 

"  Where  did  the  girl  get  it?  " 

"  That,"  laughed  Dorothy,  "  is  the  real  secret. 
Popsie,  you  are  now  gazing  on  the  greatest,  the 
most  sacred,  the  most  profound  of  the  hidden 
mysteries  of  Miss  Capulet's  Fashionable  Semin- 


218  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ary  for  the  Training  of  Young  Ladies  of  the 
Better  Classes.  For  twenty  long  and  stylish  and 
exclusive  years  this  key  has  been  handed  down 
from  one  class  to  another.  It  is  guarded 
religiously.  Only  the  elect  know  it  exists.  When 
one  set  of  girls  graduates,  is  '  finished,'  those  girls 
give  the  key  to  the  girls  who  are  to  be  completed 
the  next  year,  and  here  it  is,  and  here  am  I,  being 
one  of  the  elect.  But  remember,  you  mustn't 
tell." 

Marsh  promised  again.  Dorothy  sat  down. 
"  Seriously,  papa,  I  just  had  to  talk  to  you  or 
burst!" 

"What's  the  matter?" 

"  Oh,  I  hate  all  this  formality  and  social  fool 
ishness  that  they  teach  me  as  if  I  intended  to 
spend  my  life  gliding  gracefully  into  a  drawing 
room  and  gliding  out  again,  after  I  have  stood 
gracefully  about  or  sat  gracefully  down  and  risen 
gracefully,  and  chatted  with  graceful  animation 
with  the  automatons  who  are  gracefully  disposed 
round  the  room.  I  hate  it.  I  want  to  go  back 
to  Morganville  and  forget  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  exclusive  society,  and  that  it  is  bad  form  to  do 
this  perfectly  natural  thing,  and  worse  form  to  be 
oneself  and  not  a  parrot,  parroting  Miss  Prim's 
correct  conversation  for  correct  young  ladies." 

"  But  you  know  that's  impossible." 

"  Why  is  it?  I  can  go  back  and  live  with 
grandma,  where  I  can  get  out-of-doors  and  not  be 
worried  about  the  width  of  my  skirt  or  the  proper 
way  to  eat  ice  cream." 


HOOKED  219 

"  Pshaw,  Dorothy,  your  mother  wouldn't  hear 
of  it  for  a  moment." 

"  Can't  you  coax  her,  popsie?     Can't  you?  " 

"Coax  her?"  Marsh  laughed.  "No  daugh 
ter,  I  can't  coax  her,  nor  can  I  do  anything  ex 
cept  meekly  bear  my  burdens  along  with  you. 
She  wants  to  succeed  socially,  and  I  want  her  to, 
of  course.  She  intends  you  shall  be  a  social  suc 
cess.  This  training  is  necessary,  she  says.  It  is 
essential,  she  thinks.  Mamma  has  great  am 
bitions,  not  only  for  herself  but  for  you  and  for 
me.  We  must  help  her,  not  hinder  her." 

"  But,  popsie,  I  hate  it." 

"  Possibly  you  will  feel  differently  about  it  when 
you  have  been  finished  " —  Marsh  laughed — "  by 
Miss  Capulet  and  her  able  assistants  and  are 
out  having  your  fling  at  it  here  in  Washington." 

"  I  never  shall.  It  isn't  real.  It  all  seems  like 
a  game." 

'  That  is  exactly  what  it  is,  dear  —  a  game,"  he 
said  gravely.  "  And  you  and  I  are  playing  that 
game,  my  girl;  and  we  must  play  according  to  the 
rules.  You're  dead  right!"  he  exclaimed;  "it's 
all  a  game  —  my  part  of  it,  your  mother's  part 
of  it,  your  part  of  it  —  and  the  stakes  are  what? 
Place;  the  right  or  the  assumed  right  to  consider 
oneself  a  little  better  than  one's  neighbour,  to  have 
a  little  more  trumpery  importance,  to  get  a  little 
useless  distinction  according  to  standards  that  are 
as  artificial  as  the  things  measured  by  them.  You 
are  right,  Dorothy,  it  is  a  game;  but  unless  we  play 
it  we  are  played  upon  by  it.  Once  we  take  a  hand 


220  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

we  must  stay  until  somebody  stronger  defeats  us, 
and  the  whole  of  it  depends  on  knowing  how  to 
use  those  cards  so  we  shall  not  be  defeated  but 
shall  defeat  others,  no  matter  what  the  conse 
quences  to  the  others  may  be.  It's  useless  to  pro 
test,  Dorothy.  You  are  in  this  atmosphere  and 
so  am  I,  and  we  must  breathe  this  air,  for  there 
is  no  other  that  will  sustain  us  in  the  life  of  the 
kind  we  have  set  out  to  lead.  Come,  I'll  take  you 
back  to  school." 

Marsh  thought  much  about  Dorothy's  pro 
test,  and  he  was  sorry  for  her,  as  indeed  he  was 
at  times  sorry  for  himself,  but  he  could  see  no 
way  out.  He  was  in  the  game  and  he  must  stay 
in,  or  confess  failure  and  come  to  defeat.  There 
seemed  to  be  some  force  behind  him,  invisible  but 
potent,  pushing  him  into  intimate  relations  with 
men  whom  he  had  come  to  know  as  selfish,  self- 
seeking  politicians,  using  the  party  and  the  country 
and  the  people  for  their  own  ends,  for  their  own 
aggrandisement  and  their  own  perpetuation  in 
power,  and  he  knew  there  was  only  one  thing  he 
could  do  besides  continue  on  as  he  was  being  di 
rected  —  he  could  revolt.  He  could  declare  his 
independence.  That  would  mean  his  political 
ruin,  and  his  career  was  very  dear  to  him. 

A  day  or  two  later  he  had  a  letter  from  Quick- 
sail  giving  him  the  details  of  the  copper  pool. 
There  was  a  rich  prospect  in  Arizona  where  the 
workings  had  been  kept  secret.  A  big  vein  had 
been  struck,  and  the  syndicate  had  bought  twenty- 
five  thousand  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  original 


HOOKED  221 

company  at  two  dollars  a  share.  Marsh  had  been 
put  in  for  three  thousand  shares.  The  plan  was 
to  make  the  announcement  of  the  strike,  fully  veri 
fied,  for  it  was  a  real  strike,  and  at  the  proper  time 
put  the  stock  on  the  market.  Options  at  two  dol 
lars  a  share  had  been  taken  on  a  block  of  fifty 
thousand  shares  to  be  held  in  reserve.  If  the 
mine  was  as  good  as  it  promised  to  be  the  stock 
would  be  proportioned  among  the  syndicate  mem 
bers  to  hold,  but  in  any  event  Quicksall  was  sure 
the  announcement  of  the  strike  would  send  the 
stock  up  some  dollars  a  share  and  anticipated  a 
good  turn,  with  the  optioned  stock  In  reserve,  to 
be  sold,  kept  or  turned  back  by  a  refusal  to  take 
up  the  option  when  it  expired  in  case  circumstances 
were  not  propitious. 

Marsh  watched  the  curb-market  news  carefully 
for  several  days.  Then  one  morning  the  New 
York  papers  all  had  stories  of  the  big  strike  in 
the  Marine  Mine,  and  Quicksall  telephoned  to 
Marsh  that  afternoon  from  New  York  the  de 
mand  had  been  very  active  and  the  twenty- 
five  thousand  shares  had  been  sold  at  an  average 
profit  of  nine  dollars  a  share.  Next  morning 
Marsh  received  a  letter  from  Quicksall  inclosing 
a  cheque  for  $10,500,  and  notifying  him  that  the 
remainder  of  his  profit,  after  deducting  the  $6,000 
for  the  original  payment  of  two  dollars  a  share 
for  his  three  thousand  shares,  had  been  withheld 
to  take  up  the  five  thousand  shares  of  the  optioned 
stock  allotted  to  him,  for  which  he  would  receive 
certificates  in  due  time.  That  meant  Marsh  had 


222          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

$10,500  in  cash,  that  he  owned  five  thousand 
shares,  bought  for  him  at  two  dollars  a  share, 
and  worth  on  the  market  nine  dollars  a  share,  or 
$45,000.  The  cheque  for  $10,500  instead  of  for 
$11,000,  Quicksall  explained,  meant  that  $500 
had  been  deducted  for  Marsh's  share  of  the  ex 
pense  of  the  operation,  and  the  commissions. 

Marsh  was  dumfounded.  He  had  no  idea  he 
would  make  so  much  money  or  that  Quicksall 
would  make  so  much  money  for  him.  Again  he 
was  tortured  by  the  why  of  it.  Why  had  Quick 
sall  done  this  for  him?  What  was  back  of  it? 
Why  had  they  singled  him  out?  He  knew  the 
net  was  being  thrown  over  him,  and  he  couldn't 
understand  why  they  were  taking  such  pains  to 
capture  him.  How  could  he  be  of  benefit  to 
them?  What  was  the  reason?  He  sat  for  hours 
trying  to  get  a  solution,  and  all  the  time  the  cheque 
for  $10,500  lay  on  the  table  before  him,  smiling 
up  at  him,  laughing  joyously  in  his  face  —  and 
he  needed  the  money. 

As  he  walked  home  that  night,  after  a  listless 
day  in  the  House,  he  met  Rambo. 

"  Hello,  Marsh,"  said  Rambo  cheerily,  "  did 
you  get  a  slice  of  that  copper  melon?  " 

"  Yes,"  Marsh  replied,  "  Quicksall  let  me  have 
some  of  the  stock.  Say,  Rambo,  why  has  Quick- 
sail  taken  such  a  shine  to  me?  " 

"  Oh,"  said  Rambo  lightly,  "  you're  a  good  fel 
low.  Come  on  in  and  have  a  drink?" 

Marsh  lay  awake  for  hours  that  night  turning 
the  matter  over  in  his  mind.  He  considered  all 


HOOKED  223 

his  relations  with  Quicksall.  That  friendly  per 
son  had  never  asked  him  to  do  anything  save  dine 
with  him.  He  was  far  from  a  reasonable  ex 
planation  when  he  fell  asleep.  At  breakfast  next 
morning  Mrs.  Marsh  gave  him  Dorothy's  bill  for 
extras  at  Miss  Capulet's  seminary.  It  was  for 
$600  and  covered  only  half  the  term.  Marsh  put 
the  cheque  for  $10,500  in  the  bank  on  his  way  up 
to  the  Capitol. 

Marsh  found  a  note  from  the  Speaker's  secre 
tary  in  his  box  in  the  House  post-office,  asking 
him  to  drop  in  to  the  speaker's  room  that  morning. 
He  went  round  about  eleven  o'clock  and  was  soon 
admitted  to  the  inner  office. 

"  Hello,  Marsh,"  greeted  the  speaker.  "  Glad 
to  see  you.  Sit  down." 

Marsh  said  he  was  equally  glad  to  see  the 
speaker,  and  waited  to  hear  why  he  had  been  sum 
moned. 

"  Marsh,"  the  speaker  continued,  "  the  boys 
think  you  are  just  the  man  to  defend  the 
Administration's  reciprocity  programme  on  the 
floor." 

"  What's  that?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  I  say  the  boys  have  been  talking  the  matter 
over  and  have  decided  you  are  just  the  man  to 
make  the  big  speech  defending  the  Administra 
tion's  reciprocity  policy  on  the  floor.  We  must 
have  a  smashing  statement  of  our  side  of  the 
case  for  public  consumption.  We've  got  the 
votes,  you  know,"  and  the  speaker  chuckled,  "  but 
we  need  the  excuse  for  them,  and  we  think  you 


224  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

can  do   it  better  than  anybody.     What  do  you 
say?" 

"  But,  Mr.  Speaker,"  stammered  Marsh,  "  I 
j " 

"  Oh,  hell,"  said  the  speaker,  "  I  know  what 
you  are  thinking.  You  aren't  quite  in  line  with 
it.  Well,  forget  that,  my  son.  It's  a  party  pol 
icy  and  it's  an  Administration  measure.  It's  go 
ing  through  whooping,  but  we  want  the  country 
to  understand  it.  You  are  a  Republican,  and  you 
can  take  your  stand  as  a  loyal  member  of  the 
Grand  Old  Party." 

"  I'll  think  it  over." 

'  You  don't  have  to  think  it  over;  decide  now. 
It's  a  big  chance  for  you.  It  shows  we  have  con 
fidence  in  you,  despite  that  youthful  indiscretion 
of  yours  when  you  jumped  away  from  us  on  that 
land  bill  a  year  or  so  ago.  There  are  half  a  dozen 
men  who  are  aching  to  make  this  speech,  which 
will  attract  attention  not  only  in  every  state  in  the 
Union  but  abroad,  and  this  is  your  opportunity. 
How  about  it?  " 

"  All  right,"  consented  Marsh,  feeling  tre 
mendously  flattered.  "  I'll  do  my  best  at  it." 

"  Good  boy,"  said  the  speaker,  reaching  over 
and  patting  him  on  the  arm.  "  Go  to  it.  This 
is  Tuesday.  Can  you  be  ready  on  Friday  after 
noon?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Fine.  It  will  come  up  about  two  o'clock. 
I'll  see  to  it  that  all  the  boys  are  on  hand  to  hear 


HOOKED  225] 

you.  By  the  way,  seen  our  friend  Quicksall 
lately?" 

"  A  few  days  ago,"  answered  Marsh,  looking 
keenly  at  the  speaker. 

"  Good  boy,  Quicksall;  nice  a  fellow  as  I  know. 
His  people  are  interested  in  this  proposition." 

Marsh  felt  tempted  to  refuse,  but  he  walked 
out.  He  was  beginning  to  see  things.  Later  in 
the  day  Byron,  with  an  afternoon  paper  in  his 
hand,  came  over  and  sat  down  beside  Marsh,  who 
was  listening  to  a  Democratic  attack  on  Repub 
lican  extravagance  by  a  perfervid  orator  from 
the  South. 

"  Marsh,"  said  Peyton,  handing  him  the  paper, 
"  I  see  they  have  hooked  you." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"  Why,  it  is  announced  in  this  paper  you  are 
going  to  make  the  speech  defending  this  rotten 
reciprocity  programme  of  the  organisation." 

"What  of  it?"  Marsh  asked,  secretly  feeling 
that  he  had  indeed  been  hooked,  for  he  realised 
the  news  had  been  given  to  the  reporters  as  soon 
as  he  had  consented  to  speak. 

"  Oh,  nothing,  if  you  can't  see  it  yourself," 
Byron  said,  moving  off.  "  Nothing  at  all,  my 
dear  boy;  only  you  started  out  right,  and  they've 
thrown  a  switch  on  you  and  run  you  in  on  their 
particular  sidetrack.  More  power  to  you,  only 
when  the  big  bust-up  comes  don't  say  I  didn't  warn 
you." 


XX 

THE  ATLAS   LAND   COMPANY 

MARSH  spent  Wednesday  and  Thurs 
day  in  retirement  preparing  his 
speech.  He  knew  he  must  make  a 
great  speech,  not  only  because  his 
own  reputation  was  in  the  balance,  but  because 
it  seemed  to  him,  after  considering  the  situation 
from  every  angle,  his  future  lay  with  the  or 
ganisation,  and  he  knew  from  what  he  had  seen 
and  heard  the  organisation  took  good  care  of 
its  inner  members.  He  argued  that  his  selec 
tion  for  this  important  action  proved  he  was  being 
considered  at  any  rate  for  membership,  and  he 
knew  the  ordinary  member,  who  was  used  merely 
as  a  voting  unit  when  the  time  came,  had  about 
as  many  legislative  functions  as  a  sheep  and  re 
sembled  that  docile  animal  in  many  particulars. 
He  decided  he  wouldn't  be  a  sheep,  and  concluded 
he  might  just  as  well  forget  his  qualms  of  consci 
ence  and  do  as  he  was  constantly  advised  to  by 
men  who  were  eminently  successful  both  in  obtain 
ing  and  keeping  position  and  perquisites  for  them 
selves,  play  the  game. 

Word  had  gone  out  that  the  majority  members 
should  all  be  in  their  seats  on  the  afternoon  for 

226 


THE  ATLAS  LAND  COMPANY    227 

the  speech,  and  they  were  all  there.  The  news 
papers  had  printed  paragraphs  about  the  forth 
coming  defence  of  the  Administration  and  had 
given  brief  resumes  of  Marsh's  career  in  Congress. 
He  was  spoken  of  as  an  eloquent  and  forceful 
orator,  and  that  was  enough  to  jam  the  galleries, 
for  Washington  people  love  a  show,  especially 
when  it  is  free.  Mrs.  Marsh  who  was  most  be 
comingly  dressed,  and  a  party  of  ladies  from  the 
Dewilton  had  front  seats  in  the  reserved  gallery. 
Marsh  looked  up  at  her  and  smiled  and  waved 
his  hand,  and  a  little  description  of  this  loving  act 
was  included  in  the  running  stories  of  the  event 
the  boys  up  in  the  press  galleries  were  sending  to 
the  wires,  sheet  by  sheet. 

Two  o'clock  came.  The  regular  order  was  de 
manded  by  the  majority  leader.  There  was  a 
hush  for  a  moment  and  everybody  turned  toward 
Marsh,  who  had  taken  a  seat  on  the  center  aisle. 
His  stenographer  sat  beside  him  with  a  great  pile 
of  notes  and  reference  books.  Marsh  was  a  man 
of  prodigious  memory.  It  was  his  custom  to 
write  a  speech,  read  it  once,  and  then  talk  with 
out  referring  to  the  manuscript.  He  rarely 
strayed  away  from  his  original  text,  but  when  he 
did,  it  was  merely  to  elaborate  some  point,  and  he 
always  came  back  to  the  words  as  he  had  written 
and  memorised  them.  He  was  fluent,  graceful, 
logical,  and  his  voice  was  musical  and  had  excel 
lent  carrying  properties.  He  had  put  on  his  frock- 
coat,  wore  a  red  carnation  in  his  buttonhole  and 
was  smiling  and  self-possessed. 


228  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

He  rose  and  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole  recognised  him.  He  spoke  for  two 
hours,  marshalling  a  great  array  of  facts  to  show 
the  virtue  of  the  Administration  contention,  mak 
ing  his  plea  logical  and  consecutive  and  demolish 
ing  the  claims  of  the  opposition  with  a  volley  of 
eloquent  denunciation.  He  ridiculed  the  Demo 
crats,  scoffed  at  those  members  of  his  own  party 
who  were  opposed  to  the  measure,  showed  how 
this  was  a  great  and  historic  party  policy,  quoted 
figures  to  prove  that  it  would  benefit  the  people  — • 
to  whom  he  referred  frequently  and  with  great 
affection  —  and  concluded  with  a  burst  of  elo 
quence  that  brought  cheers  from  the  galleries. 
Applause  had  been  liberal.  His  colleagues  lis 
tened  intently,  and  encouraged  him  by  loud  hand- 
clapping.  He  was  not  interrupted  many  times  by 
questions,  for  his  speech  was  so  strong  all  wanted 
to  hear  it  and  when  he  had  finished,  had  passed 
his  hand  for  the  last  time  over  his  hair  and  then 
flung  his  arm  out  as  if  he  were  desirous  of  throw 
ing  away  his  fingers  — his  favourite  gesture  — 
they  surrounded  him,  congratulated  him,  patted 
him  on  the  back,  and  Marsh  felt  he  had  arrived. 
The  newspapers  carried  long  stories  about  the 
speech.  Marsh  was  a  figure  in  the  House. 

He  read  the  reports  of  his  speech  eagerly  and 
was  gratified  to  find  the  reporters  had  used  a  con 
siderable  amount  of  the  advance  copy  he  had 
carefully  sent  to  them  and  to  the  news  agencies. 
As  he  was  deep  in  the  New  York  papers  next  day 
Senator  Paxton  walked  into  Marsh's  room. 


THE  ATLAS  LAND  COMPANY    229 

"  Ha,  Jim,"  he  said,  "  I  observe  that  that  little 
subject  of  publicity  seems  to  interest  you.  The 
reporters  didn't  pester  you  any  yesterday,  I  take 
it." 

Before  Marsh  could  reply  half  a  dozen  mem 
bers,  whom  he  did  not  know  save  by  sight,  came 
in  and  shook  hands  with  him  effusively,  compli 
menting  him  on  the  speech  and  talking  as  if  they 
were  life-long  friends  of  his. 

Paxton  laughed  as  they  filed  out.  "  There  they 
go,"  he  said,  "  the  reflected-glory  boys,  the  chaps 
who  cannot  do  anything  themselves,  but  seek  to 
get  importance  by  attaching  their  colourless  per 
sonalities  to  the  man  who  can  do  things.  Wash 
ington  is  full  of  them.  They  strut  and  sputter 
and  declaim  roundly  how  '  My  friend  Marsh ' 
said  this  or  that  to  them,  and  how  '  I  said  to  my 
friend  Marsh,'  and  thus  and  so,  with  the  '  I  '  in 
every  sentence.  Poor  chaps,  they  are  only 
twelfth-carbon-copies  of  the  real  thing  and  know 
it,  and  they  strive  to  elevate  themselves  by  tacking 
on  to  others.  Vanity,  Jim,  all  vanity  —  the  piti 
ful,  pitiable,  but  innumerable  galaxy  of  reflected- 
glory  boys !  " 

The  senator  laughed  again.  "  I  used  to  know 
a  very  pompous  newspaper  correspondent  here, 
who  made  up  with  fake  dignity  and  loud-voiced 
opinions  what  he  lacked  in  ability.  He  was  a  per 
fect  type  of  the  reflected-glory  boy.  About  twice 
a  week  he  would  go  over  to  the  White  House  and 
stand  round  for  an  hour  or  so  until  he  got  a 
glimpse  of  the  president.  Then  he  would  go  back 


230          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

to  his  office  and  write  a  long  slug  of  his  own  windy 
ideas  on  political  affairs,  which  always  began:  '  I 
saw  President  Cleveland  to-day,'  giving  the  im 
pression  that  all  the  piffle  he  spun  out  came  from 
the  president.  And  even  his  astute  editors  fell 
for  it,  until  old  Grover  put  out  a  brief  statement 
one  day  saying  he  hadn't  spoken  to  this  chap  for 
six  months,  and  that  ended  his  little  exaltation  of 
his  negligible  self." 

"  How'd  you  like  the  speech?"  asked  Marsh. 

"  Bully !  It  was  a  corker  I  I'm  glad  you 
made  it,  for  you  are  in  the  swim  now,  which  not 
only  adds  to  your  personal  and  political  increment, 
but  also  does  a  heap  for  the  flourishing  firm  of 
Paxton  and  Marsh." 

They  discussed  some  political  affairs  out  in  the 
home  state,  including  several  pressing  matters, 
talked  over  various  candidates  for  postmaster- 
ships,  and  decided  to  recommend  one  or  two  to 
replace  McManus  men.  As  the  senator  was  leav 
ing,  he  said: 

"  By  the  way,  Marsh,  I've  put  you  down  for  a 
few  snares  in  the  Atlas  Land  Company  that's  in 
process  of  organisation." 

"  What's  the  Atlas  Land  Company?  " 

"  Oh,  some  of  us  are  going  to  do  some  opera 
ting  in  real  estate  just  outside  the  city.  It  might 
be  a  good  thing.  I  can  fix  it  if  you  want  in.  Bet 
ter  take  some." 

"  How  much  will  it  cost?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  Not  much.  The  capital  is  $200,000,  but 
only  a  tenth  of  it  is  paid  in.  I've  put  you  down 


THE  ATLAS  LAND  COMPANY    231 

for  a  hundred  shares,  par  a  hundred  dollars,  and 
you'll  have  to  pay  in  only  a  thousand  dollars  at 
the  start." 

"  All  right,"  said  Marsh. 

A  few  days  later  there  came  a  request  to  the 
District  of  Columbia  Committee  to  allow  one  of 
the  street-car  companies  to  extend  its  lines  for  a 
few  miles  out  one  of  the  main  streets.  Nobody 
objected,  and  the  permission  was  whipped  into 
legislative  shape  and  recommended. 

Rambo  met  Marsh  about  a  week  later. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  those  hogs  anyhow?  " 
he  asked.  "  They  bottle  up  a  good  thing,  and 
when  it  is  ready  to  spill  they  grab  it  all  themselves. 
,You  and  I  should  have  had  some  of  that." 

"Some  of  what?" 

"  Why,  some  of  that  street-car  extension 
melon." 

"  How  was  there  any  melon-cutting  in  that?  " 

Rambo  laughed.  "  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  for  a 
gent  who  is  playing  in  this  game  you  have  less  con 
ception  of  the  value  of  your  cards  or  of  how  to 
play  them  than  any  man  I  know.  Why,  when  that 
extension  is  made  of  course  the  land  out  there  will 
be  available  for  subdivision  and  can  be  unloaded 
profitably.  Nothing  doing  though.  As  soon  as 
I  heard  about  it  I  hustled  round  to  the  real-estate 
fellows  to  try  to  get  a  few  acres  of  it  at  acre 
prices,  and  I  found  a  company  has  bought  every 
good  acre  there  is." 

"What  company?"  asked  Marsh,  with  a  sud 
den  sinking  of  the  heart. 


232  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Oh,  a  bunk  organisation  called  the  Atlas  Land 
Company.  I  don't  know  who  is  in  it,  but  they 
are  wise  all  right." 

Marsh  went  to  see  Senator  Paxton.  "  Pax- 
ton,"  he  said,  "  I  can't  take  that  Atlas  Company 
stock." 

'Why  not?" 

"  Because  that  company  is  directly  interested 
in  the  extension  of  that  street-car  line,  and  when 
I  voted  on  it  I  was  voting  contrary  to  law,  because 
I  had  a  direct  interest,  too,  as  a  stockholder." 

"  Pshaw!  "  the  senator  replied,  laughing.  "  If 
you  will  examine  the  records  you  will  discover  that 
the  Atlas  Land  Company  didn't  take  over  that 
land  until  the  extension  was  authorised  by  law." 

"  But,"  protested  Marsh,  "  who  sold  the  land 
to  the  Atlas  Company?  " 

"  That,"  said  Senator  Paxton,  "  is  another 
story  and  not  of  concern  in  this  discussion.  I 
figure  we'll  make  a  little  money  out  of  that,  not 
much,  but  enough  to  buy  a  few  cigars." 

Marsh  went  away.  He  argued  with  himself 
it  was  all  right.  He  knew  in  his  heart  that  it 
wasn't,  but  he  was  playing  the  game. 

Mrs.  Marsh  talked  with  her  husband  that  night 
about  money.  She  had  heard  many  stories  of 
how  representatives  and  senators  make  large  fees 
and  she  thought  Marsh  should  have  some  of  these. 

"  Besides,"  she  said,  "  you  have  opportunities 
for  information  that  should  be  valuable  to  you 
with  all  your  influential  friends." 

"What  kind  of  information?"  asked  Marsh. 


THE  ATLAS  LAND  COMPANY    233 

'"  Any  kind,"  she  replied  vaguely.  "  I  know 
there  are  chances  here  to  make  money,  and 
that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  have  more  money 
than  you  are  making,  as  necessary  for  my  social 
success  as  well  as  for  your  political  success.  In 
order  to  achieve  what  I  am  aiming  for  I  must  be 
able  to  compete  with  other  women  who  are  en 
gaged  in  aiding  their  husbands  socially.  I  am  as 
economical  as  I  can  be,  but  I  need  money.  My 
plans  are  maturing.  I  can  see  my  way  clear  to 
success.  But  you  must  help  me,  not  hinder  me 
by  refusing  to  make  the  most  of  your  opportuni 
ties." 

"  Molly,"  said  Marsh,  "  I  am  afraid  you  don't 
understand." 

"  There  is  one  thing  I  understand,"  she  replied, 
"  and  that  is  that  if  you  have  had  informa 
tion  that  helped  you,  and  if  you  know  at  all 
what  is  going  on,  you  must  have  information  and 
influence  that  will  help  others.  Besides,  you  are 
a  lawyer.  Why  can't  you  get  retainers  here? 
There  must  be  men  who  could  use  your  services 
if  you  would  look  round  and  find  them  instead  of 
devoting  yourself  all  the  time  to  that  stupid  con 
gressional  work." 

"  I  have  obligations  I  must  respect,"  said 
Marsh. 

1  You  have  obligations  to  me  that  are  fully  as 
great  as  any  you  owe  to  politics  or  party,"  she  re 
plied.  And  Marsh  ma.de  no  reply. 


XXI 

THE    CLIMBER    CLIMBS 

MRS.  MARSH  had  achieved  a  rather 
notable  success  in  her  social  cam 
paign.  She  had  devoted  nearly 
every  waking  hour  to  it,  had  assidu 
ously  cultivated  those  higher  in  position  and  with 
greater  wealth,  had  wept  privately  over  rebuffs, 
but  had  met  them  publicly  with  smiling  face  and 
apparent  indifference,  had  pruned  and  pruned 
again  her  calling  list,  dropping  an  undesirable 
from  one  end  of  it  as  soon  as  she  was  able  to  add 
a  desirable  at  the  other.  She  made  her  calls  regu 
larly  and  studied  the  social  fabric  of  Washington, 
that  is,  the  official  social  fabric,  for  residential 
society  in  the  Capital,  except  so  far  as  it  compre 
hends  a  certain  residential  set  that  flocks  with  it 
self,  is  but  an  adjunct  to  official  society. 

She  had  learned  about  rank  early,  and  had 
predicated  her  campaigns  on  the  somewhat  elastic 
system  of  precedence,  which,  she  found,  could  be 
rigid  enough  on  occasion.  She  knew  the  head 
and  centre  of  official  society  was  the  White 
House,  of  course,  and  she  had  regularly  left  her 
cards  there,  and  had  received  not  only  the  invita 
tions  to  the  big  receptions,  which  were  common 

234 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS          235 

and  came  as  a  matter  of  course  to  her  as  wife  of 
a  representative,  but  had  been  asked  twice  to 
smaller  functions  given  by  the  wife  of  the  presi 
dent,  and  had  high  hopes  of  being  one  of  the  select 
party  in  the  Blue  Room  at  some  notable  event. 

She  had  found  the  classification  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  Government,  in  a  social  sense,  to 
be  as  old  as  the  Government.  After  the  White 
House  there  came  the  ladies  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  then  the  ladies  of  the 
Cabinet,  then  the  senatorial  ladies  and  then  the 
congressional  ladies,  who  had  various  degrees  of 
importance.  Interlocked  in  a  way  was  the  near- 
cabinet  set,  and  also  the  wives  of  certain  subordin 
ate  officials,  such  as  commissioners  and  bureau 
chiefs.  Then,  too,  there  was  the  army  and  navy 
society  and  the  diplomatic  set.  She  discovered 
many  subdivisions  in  this,  or  cliques,  rather,  and 
had  not  been  long  in  ascertaining  there  was  a 
sharp  demarcation  in  importance  and  prestige 
between  the  European  diplomatists  and  the  diplo 
matists  from  the  Far  East  and  the  Latin-American 
countries.  The  ambassadors  of  the  great  powers 
were  the  leaders  naturally,  but  second  and  even 
third  and  fourth  secretaries  of  the  chancelleries 
of  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Austria, 
Russia  and  Italy  considered  themselves  far  supe 
rior  in  a  social  way  to  ambassadors  and  ministers 
from  Latin-American  countries,  and,  having  made 
the  distinction  themselves,  were  so  considered  by 
aspiring  hostesses. 

Her  four  seasons  in  Washington  had  taught 


236          THE  PRICE  OF  PUACE 

her  many  things,  the  most  important  of  which  was 
that  there  were  scores  of  other  women  who  were 
engaged  in  the  same  warfare  as  herself,  battling 
to  push  themselves  into  the  exclusive  circles.  She 
early  realised  the  advantage  the  socially  ambitious 
woman  has  when  she  comes  to  Washington, 
through  the  rule  that  permits  her  to  call  first  on 
the  older  residents,  either  official  or  local,  of  the 
city,  instead  of  waiting  for  these  experienced  and 
advanced  persons  to  come  to  call  on  her.  She 
found  she  could  call  on  anybody,  and  if  she  wanted 
recognition  she  must  go  out  and  seek  it  herself  and 
not  wait  for  recognition  to  come  to  her.  By  the 
simple  expedient  of  leaving  her  cards  regularly 
she  was  included  in  many  invitation  lists  for  gen 
eral  affairs,  even  at  the  embassies,  and  when  her 
husband  began  to  get  recognition  in  the  House  the 
Marshes  were  asked  to  smaller  and  more  exclusive 
functions,  especially  after  his  reciprocity  speech. 
Word  had  gone  out  that  Marsh  had  been  taken 
up  by  the  organisation,  and  there  were  plenty  of 
people  in  official  life  who  were  quite  willing,  in 
deed  anxious,  to  cultivate  the  wife  of  a  man  who 
was  in  the  good  graces  of  the  organisation,  and 
most  likely  would  come  to  be  a  part  of  it. 

Her  experience  had  taught  her  that  the  society 
of  Washington  is  not  based  on  any  desire  for 
human  intercourse,  but  on  a  desire  for  influence. 
Every  person  in  Washington  wants  something  and 
almost  every  person  in  Washington  wants  every 
thing.  Hence  the  people  to  get  on  good  terms 
with  are  the  people  who  may  be  useful  in  advanc- 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS  237 

ing  social,  political  or  other  ambitions.  She  early 
had  a  lesson  as  to  this  phase  of  it.  She  grew  to 
know  the  wife  of  an  important  man  in  the  State 
Department,  the  head  of  a  bureau.  This  wife 
had  made  her  diplomatic  calls  for  two  years,  leav 
ing  her  cards  and  the  cards  of  her  husband,  her 
husband's  cards  having  nothing  on  them  but  his 
name. 

One  day  in  the  third  year  the  wife  discovered, 
when  she  was  about  to  set  out  on  her  round  of 
diplomatic  calls,  she  had  none  of  her  husband's 
plain  cards  left,  and  she  took  a  handful  of  his 
official  cards,  bearing  his  name  and  the  line: 
"  Department  of  State."  She  called  as  usual  and 
was  received  everywhere  in  the  usual  indifferent 
fashion.  No  one  remembered  her.  The  hos 
tesses  didn't  seem  to  care  whether  she  stayed  a 
minute  or  an  hour.  But  within  a  few  days  invita 
tions  began  to  shower  in  on  them,  invitations  to 
all  the  general  functions  and  to  some  of  the  more 
exclusive  ones.  That  line  "  Department  of 
State,"  on  the  husband's  card  had  worked  the 
change.  The  astute  diplomatic  hostesses  had  ob 
served  it,  and  they  hurried  to  compliment  a  woman 
whose  husband,  as  they  had  found  after  her  visit, 
held  an  important  place  in  the  State  Department. 

Mrs.  Marsh  also  had  learned  the  value  of  titles. 
She  knew  the  distinction  it  gave  a  paragraph  in 
the  social  columns  to  have  an  under  secretary  or 
two,  who  was  a  count  or  some  other  kind  of  a  sprig 
of  nobility,  included  in  the  names  of  "  Among 
those  invited."  She  had  discovered  that  a  repu- 


238  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

tation  for  good  food  and  plenty  of  wine  helps  as 
much  as  anything  else.  She  had  resolved  to  take 
a  house  when  she  returned  to  Washington  the  fol 
lowing  season,  for  she  considered  herself  on  secure 
enough  footing  to  do  some  real  climbing.  So  she 
made  her  plans  to  that  end,  having  in  mind,  of 
course,  the  great  ambition  of  her  life,  next  to  her 
own  success,  which  was  to  introduce  Dorothy  to 
society  as  one  of  the  buds  of  the  forthcoming  sea 
son,  and  to  marry  her  to  some  man  whose  money 
and  position  would  give  her  own  and  Dorothy's 
careers  added  impetus.  She  had  watched  the 
little,  titled  under  secretaries,  but  decided  neither 
Dorothy  nor  her  father  would  consent  to  a  mar 
riage  merely  for  a  decadent  title,  even  if  such 
a  marriage  could  be  arranged,  so  she  had  rather 
regretfully  dismissed  that  idea  from  her  mind, 
and  had  planned  to  look  about  among  the  young 
men  of  good  family  and  of  wealth.  She  had  sev 
eral  desirable  chaps  in  mind,  and  she  assayed 
them  carefully,  inquired  into  their  social  stand 
ing  and  their  fortunes,  and  finally  selected  four, 
any  one  of  whom  she  considered  a  suitable  person 
for  an  alliance  with  the  house  of  Marsh. 

Meantime  her  own  evolution  had  been  remark 
able.  She  had  made  herself  over  practically  and 
was  a  charming  and  an  attractive  woman.  She 
was  artificial,  without  much  of  heart  or  senti 
ment,  but  she  concealed  that  rather  cleverly,  and 
was  so  vivacious,  so  clever,  so  up-to-the-minute 
both  in  her  gowns  and  in  her  information,  that  the 
men  liked  to  talk  to  her.  She  was  a  genius  at 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS  239 

economies  in  luxury.  She  had  discovered  a  stable, 
kept  by  a  man  named  Maxwell,  where  she  could 
obtain  stylish  carriages  with  an  "  M  "  on  the  door, 
and  she  made  an  arrangement  to  have  one  of  these 
and  a  particular  coachman,  the  best-looking  one, 
every  time  she  went  out,  thus  giving  the  impression 
that  it  was  her  private  carriage. 

She  had  found  how  to  get  a  hairdresser  by  the 
month  to  come  to  her  each  morning,  saving  her 
the  bother  of  going  to  the  hairdressing  shops,  and 
she  engaged  this  girl  also  at  a  monthly  rate.  Un 
der  her  direction  the  hairdresser  fashioned  coif 
fures  for  Mrs.  Marsh  that  were  the  envy  of  her 
friends  as  they  were  the  admiration  of  her  ac 
quaintances.  She  engaged  a  maid  who  had  a  rudi 
mentary  knowledge  of  facial  massage  and  the  ap 
plication  of  creams  and  lotions,  and  she  taught  her 
how  to  manicure,  for  in  the  long  years  when  she 
had  manicured  her  own  nails  Mrs.  Marsh  had  be 
come  proficient  at  it.  A  skilled  and  competent 
negro  woman,  who  went  out  to  private  houses, 
was  engaged  as  her  masseuse  at  a  dollar  a  treat 
ment;  and  her  dressmaker  was  terrorised  at  her 
definite  knowledge  of  how  she  wanted  her  gowns 
made,  and  driven  to  desperation  by  her  exactions, 
but  careful  to  keep  her  patronage,  for  Mrs. 
Marsh  had  become  one  of  the  most  stylishly 
gowned  women  in  the  city. 

As  soon  as  she  heard  of  her  husband's  copper 
windfall  she  went  to  New  York  and  bought  a  set  of 
expensive  furs,  and  she  demanded  a  jewel  or  two  to 
supplement  the  rather  mediocre  rings  and  brooches 


24o          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

that  she  had  obtained  in  years  past  as  birthday 
and  anniversary  presents.  She  had  other  jewels 
in  mind,  but  she  was  content  to  wait,  only  she  in 
sisted  on  turning  in  a  number  of  her  smaller  jewels 
and  supplementing  the  proceeds  with  as  much 
money  as  she  could  get  in  order  to  get  one  striking 
diamond  ornament,  preferring  one  good  jewel  to 
a  number  of  inferior  ones.  She  sent  abroad  for 
a  certain  kind  of  imitation  pearl  she  heard  about, 
and  wore  them  at  a  function  of  importance,  men 
tioning  in  the  note  she  sent  to  the  society  editors 
that  "  Mrs.  Marsh  wore  a  magnificent  pearl  neck 
lace."  Everybody  congratulated  her  on  this  beau 
tiful  ornament,  although  they  said  behind  her  back 
it  positively  must  be  imitation.  However,  so  were 
all  the  pearls  the  carpers  wore. 

About  this  time  automobiles  began  to  be  the 
thing.  Mrs.  Marsh  spent  hours  in  finding  an  au 
tomobile  that  would  suit  her  purposes.  She 
finally  ran  down  a  young  man  who  had  a  machine 
with  a  crest  on  its  door,  and  who  was  not  averse 
to  renting  both  machine  and  crest,  with  a 
chauffeur,  for  a  reasonable  price  by  the  hour. 
She  paid  half  the  cost  of  a  new  uniform  for  the 
chauffeur,  adopted  the  crest  for  her  own,  and  peo 
ple  soon  thought  the  automobile  was  hers  and  not 
hired.  She  went  through  all  the  florists'  shops 
until  she  found  a  little  one  on  a  side  street  where 
the  florist  was  glad  enough  to  make  rates  for  her 
on  promise  of  steady  business.  She  insisted  that 
Marsh  should  cultivate  the  keeper  of  the  botan 
ical  gardens  and  get  what  could  be  obtained  there, 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS          241; 

for  she  came  to  know  that  one  of  the  perquisites 
of  an  influential  member  of  Congress  is  the  loan 
of  potted  plants,  ferns  and  other  of  the  rare  speci 
mens  grown  in  the  old  greenhouses  near  the  Capi 
tol.  She  discovered  this  one  morning  after  a 
coming-out  party  for  the  daughter  of  a  Western 
senator.  She  was  a  guest  at  the  function,  and 
had  observed  the  fine  palms  in  the  drawing-room 
and  envied  them.  Next  morning  she  was  driving 
past  this  house  and  she  saw  men  carrying  out  these 
palms  and  placing  them  in  a  wagon,  and  on  the 
side  of  the  wagon  was  painted:  "  U.  S.  Botani 
cal  Gardens."  A  few  inquiries  were  made  and 
then  Marsh,  under  her  direction,  demanded  his 
share  of  the  ferns,  palms  and  plants  whenever 
Mrs.  Marsh  needed  any  for  her  social  affairs. 

They  gave  a  couple  more  dinners  at  Bangle's, 
and  these  were  much  better,  as  to  the  class  of 
guests,  than  the  first  one  they  had  given.  The 
old  Bruxton  Hotel  set  had  been  thrown  in  the  dis 
card,  and  there  had  been  a  process  of  elimination 
at  the  Dewilton.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  cold-blooded 
in  her  work  of  selection.  She  had  no  close 
friends.  Every  woman  she  added  to  her  list  was 
an  improvement  socially  over  the  one  she  replaced. 
She  was  much  gratified  to  observe  that  the  society 
notes  in  the  newspapers  concerning  her  doings 
came  nearer  the  top  of  the  column  than  they  did 
formerly,  and  her  picture  had  been  printed  several 
times.  She  was  assiduous  in  her  club  duties,  and 
contrived  to  be  named  as  a  patroness  for  a  fash 
ionable  benefit  for  a  fashionable  charity,  which 


242  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

was  a  great  thing,  for  her  name  was  printed  with 
the  names  of  many  of  the  most  exclusive  women 
of  the  city,  albeit  it  cost  Marsh  a  hundred  dollars 
for  a  box  at  the  theatre  where  the  benefit  was  held 
and  another  hundred  for  various  embellishments 
Mrs.  Marsh  required. 

Dorothy  saw  her  father  now  and  then,  and  was 
progressing  rapidly  toward  her  completion  as  a 
perfected  specimen  of  Miss  Capulet's  idea  of  a 
society  young  lady.  Her  commencement  came  in 
May,  when  she  was  given  a  diploma  that  recited 
that  she  had  graduated  with  honours  from  Miss 
Capulet's  institution,  was  overwhelmed  with 
flowers,  cried  over  by  Mrs.  Marsh  and  congratu 
lated  on  her  escape  by  her  father.  Congress  was 
still  in  session,  so  Dorothy  came  to  the  Dewilton 
to  stay  a  few  weeks  before  going  to  Morganville 
and  to  enjoy  Washington,  which  at  that  season 
of  the  year  is  the  most  beautiful  city  in  the  world. 
She  was  glad  the  "  finishing  "  process  was  over, 
and  she  had  maintained  her  point  of  view,  not 
withstanding  the  efforts  of  Miss  Capulet  and  her 
able  assistants  to  make  a  fashionable  automaton 
out  of  her. 

A  few  nights  after  Dorothy  returned  to  the  De 
wilton  Mrs.  Marsh  introduced  the  subject  nearest 
to  her  heart.  They  were  sitting  on  a  balcony  that 
was  outside  their  room.  The  air  was  balmy  and 
the  night  perfect.  Marsh  was  smoking,  Dorothy 
was  looking  down  toward  the  Monument,  which 
towered,  a  shaft  of  silver  in  the  moonlight,  when 
Mrs.  Marsh  began: 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS          243 

"  Dorothy,"  she  said,  "  I  trust  you  have  made 
no  plans  for  the  summer." 

;' Why,  no,  mother,"  the  girl  replied;  "  except 
to  go  back  to  Morganville." 

"  We  shall  spend  a  very  quiet  summer,"  Mrs. 
Marsh  continued. 

"  Thank  Heaven !  "  said  Marsh  beneath  his 
breath. 

'  Yes,  we  shall  spend  a  very  quiet  summer  rest 
ing  and  preparing  for  social  duties  in  the  fall." 

"  Oh,  mother,"  protested  Dorothy;  "  you  don't 
intend  to  shove  me  into  your  society,  do  you?  " 

"Shove  you?"  replied  Mrs.  Marsh,  annoyed. 
"  No,  I  do  not  intend  to  shove  you;  but  I  intend 
that  you  shall  be  introduced  in  a  manner  that  befits 
your  position." 

"  What's  that?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  I  said,"  repeated  Mrs.  Marsh,  "  it  is  my  in 
tention  to  bring  Dorothy  out  in  the  fall." 

"Bring  her  out  of  what?"  Marsh  frowned 
as  he  asked  the  question. 

"  Bring  her  out  into  society.  Introduce  her 
formally.  She  is  eighteen  now,  her  education  is 
completed  and  she  must  be  introduced." 

"Oh,  mother!"  protested  Dorothy  again, 
reaching  over  and  taking  her  father's  hand. 
"Must  I?" 

"  I  fail  to  see  where  the  hardship  exists.  I 
consider  you  very  fortunate.  This  fall  several 
daughters  of  very  well-known  families  are  to  be 
brought  out,  and  I  hear  that  one  of  the  daughters 
of  the  president  is  to  make  her  debut.  Think  of 


244  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  advantage  that  will  bring  you !  Think  of  the 
social  eclat  in  coming  out  the  same  year  as  a  presi 
dent's  daughter !  Why,  you  will  be  invited  every 
where.  You  will  have  the  entree  to  the  very  best 
houses.  It  is  a  wonderful  opportunity." 

"  She  can  trail  along  with  the  big  ones,  eh?" 
commented  Marsh.  "  I  can't  see  much  in  that." 

"  It  doesn't  make  any  difference  whether  you 
can  see  much  or  little  in  it,  James  Marsh,"  Mrs. 
Marsh  replied,  "  for  all  my  plans  are  made. 
Why,  I  know  two  women  in  this  city  who  have 
held  back  their  daughters  one  for  a  year  and  an 
other  for  two  years,  so  they  might  bring  them 
out  next  fall  with  the  daughters  of  some  of  the 
exclusive  families.  One  poor  girl  is  over  twenty, 
and  she  has  been  kept  in  school  and  in  schoolgirl 
frocks  for  two  years  waiting  for  this  year.  How 
ever,"  she  added  complacently,  "  Dorothy  is  very 
fortunate  and  so  are  we,  James,  for  she  need  not 
wait.  The  debutantes  who  come  out  next  fall 
will  be  very  advantageous  to  us.  It  is  an  excep 
tional  opportunity." 

"  I  still  fail  to  see  what  difference  it  makes," 
insisted  Marsh.  "  Why  must  Dorothy  be  thrown 
into  this  bogus  game  just  because  the  daughter  of 
a  president  is  coming  out  and  the  daughters  of  a 
few  of  the  important  people?  Doesn't  she  get 
anywhere  off  her  own?  " 

Mrs.  Marsh  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "  I  am 
not  much  interested  in  what  you  think  of  the  mat 
ter,"  she  said.  "  The  advantages  are  apparent 
to  me.  In  the  first  place  I  shall  set  Dorothy's 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS          245 

coming-out  party  early,  and  the  invitation  list  will 
include  all  the  recognised  smart  girls  who  are  com 
ing  out  this  year.  Dorothy  will  be  pictured  in 
the  papers  in  company  with  the  daughter  of 
the  president  and  the  daughters  of  the  other 
prominent  families.  She  will  be  invited  to 
the  houses  of  these  people.  She  will  have  the 
tremendous  benefit  of  their  social  prestige.  She 
will  be  a  bud  in  the  same  year  with  very  fashion 
able  girls  and  for  that  reason  come  to  be  one  of 
thir  set.  These  girls  will  come  to  our  house  — " 

'  To  our  house?  "  exclaimed  Marsh. 

"  Yes,"  Mrs.  Marsh  repeated  calmly,  "  to  our 
house.  Of  course  now  that  Dorothy  is  of  an  age 
to  be  introduced  to  society  we  shall  take  a  house 
and  live  as  befits  our  position  and  the  position  she 
will  assume,  instead  of  poked  up  in  a  common 
hotel  with  a  lot  of  common  people.  It  is  all  de 
cided.  I  have  inspected  several  suitable  places, 
and  we  shall  rent  one,  the  lease  to  date  from  the 
first  of  next  October." 

"  How  much  will  it  cost?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  It  is  too  early  to  talk  of  that.  The  great 
question  is  to  get  the  right  house.  I  found  one 
place  that  I  think  will  suit,  where  the  rent  is  three 
thousand  dollars  a  season,  furnished." 

"Three  thousand  dollars  a  season!"  Marsh 
jumped  from  his  chair. 

"  Sit  down,  James,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh. 
"  We've  got  to  have  a  house  even  if  it  costs  four 
thousand,  so  you  might  as  well  make  up  your  mind 
to  it.  Ever  since  I  have  been  in  this  city  I  have 


246          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

slaved  and  toiled  to  advance  you.  I  have  now 
arrived  at  a  place  where  my  efforts  are  beginning 
to  bear  fruit.  We  are  in  a  position  to  grasp  a 
wonderful  opportunity.  Think  of  our  daughter 
being  introduced  in  society  in  the  same  year  as  a 
president's  daughter  and  the  daughter  of  several 
senators  and  two  of  the  richest  women  in  this  city. 
It  will  establish  us.  It  will  make  us.  It  is  all 
settled.  I  shall  rent  a  house  before  I  leave  Wash 
ington." 

Dorothy  looked  at  the  Monument,  still  silvery 
in  the  moonlight.  Her  lip  quivered  and  she 
pressed  her  father's  hand.  Mrs.  Marsh  left  the 
balcony  and  went  into  the  apartment. 

"  Poor  Dodie,"  soothed  her  father.  "  But  we 
can't  help  it.  It's  a  part  of  the  game." 

"  Oh,  father,"  pleaded  Dorothy,  "  I  want  to  go 
back  to  Morganville  and  live  there.  I  hate  it  all, 
the  sham,  the  mean  plotting  and  scheming,  the 
falseness  and  the  fraud  of  it.  I  want  to  live  a 
real  life,  among  real  people,  not  in  this  miserable, 
artificial,  intriguing  place.  I  hate  it!  " 

"  Cheer  up,  dear,"  comforted  her  father. 
"  Maybe  it  will  all  come  out  right." 

Later  in  the  evening,  after  woebegone  Dorothy 
had  gone  to  bed,  Mrs.  Marsh  said  to  her  husband : 

"  I  cannot  understand  Dorothy's  attitude. 
She  does  not  appreciate  her  advantages.  She  is 
really  a  most  fortunate  girl.  Not  only  will  she 
be  introduced  into  society  at  a  most  propitious 
time,  but  she  is  certain  to  meet  some  very  desir 
able  young  men." 


THE  CLIMBER  CLIMBS          247 

"  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me,"  gasped  Marsh, 
"  that  you  intend  to  carry  this  social  bunk  of  yours 
so  far  that  you  are  deliberately  planning  to  marry 
that  girl  off  for  the  sake  of  position?  " 

"  I  am  thinking  of  you  and  Dorothy,"  replied 
Mrs.  Marsh. 


XXII 

TOM   DARLINGTON   ENTERS 


1 


session  was  scheduled  to  end  early 
in  July.  Marsh's  copper  shares  had 
remained  steady  round  nine  dollars  a 
share  for  a  time,  and  then  had  begun 
to  sag  off  from  a  quarter  to  half  a  point  a  day. 
There  were  recoveries,  but  at  the  end  of  a  few 
weeks  the  shares  were  quoted  at  six  dollars  instead 
of  nine.  Marsh  talked  to  Quicksall  about  pros 
pects. 

"  I'm  thinking  of  selling,"  said  Quicksall. 
"  There's  something  wrong  with  that  deal.  I 
haven't  been  able  to  find  out  just  what,  but  I  think 
the  big  interests  are  jockeying  to  get  the  mine. 
We  haven't  got  enough  of  the  stock  to  fight  them 
and  there's  a  good  profit  in  it.  I  think  we'd  bet 
ter  take  it." 

Marsh  had  held  his  five  thousand  shares  at 
$45,000,  and  had  considered  himself  worth  that 
much  money;  but  the  stock  kept  getting  lower  and 
lower  in  price  and  a  few  days  later  he  received  a 
wire  from  Quicksall,  reading:  "  Advise  you  to  un 
load.  I'm  selling  mine." 

Marsh  told  a  local  broker  to  sell,  and  he  re 
ceived  an  average  of  a  little  more  than  five  dollars 

248 


TOM  DARLINGTON  ENTERS      249 

for  his  shares,  getting  in  cash,  when  the  transac 
tion  was  completed,  almost  $25,000. 

He  took  the  broker's  check  and  put  it  in  his 
bank.  The  banker  greeted  him  cordially. 
"  Glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  I  want 
to  have  a  talk  with  you  presently  on  a  business 
matter." 

After  Marsh  left,  the  banker  went  round  to  the 
cage  of  the  receiving  teller  and  looked  at  the 
cheque.  "  Doing  a  little  something  in  the  mar 
ket,"  he  commented.  "  He's  almost  ripe  enough 
to  pick." 

Mrs.  Marsh  and  Dorothy  went  out  to  Morgan- 
ville  early  in  June,  and  Marsh  followed  soon  after 
the  session  closed.  He  found  himself  with  $20,- 
ooo  in  cash  and  facing  a  fight  for  re-election,  for 
the  remnants  of  the  McManus  machine  were 
determined  to  defeat  him  if  they  could.  Mc 
Manus  himself  was  broken  and  discredited,  but 
Marsh  feared  there  might  be  enough  of  the  old 
organisation  outside  the  new  Marsh  organisation 
to  give  him  trouble,  and  he  had  to  look  around 
and  see  where  he  stood.  Marsh  had  been  careful 
in  his  selection  of  such  Federal  offices  as  he  could 
get,  had  worked  assiduously  for  pensions  and  the 
establishment  of  rural-free-delivery  routes,  and 
had  secured  a  good  many,  had  plastered  the  dis 
trict  with  documents  and  buried  it  under  seeds, 
and  was  in  excellent  shape,  so  far  as  the  bulk  of 
his  party  was  concerned. 

He  paid  no  attention  to  the  law;  indeed  his  law 
practice  had  dwindled  until  there  was  not  much 


250  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

of  it  left.  He  still  continued  with  a  corpora 
tion  or  two,  and  had  a  small  retainer  from 
the  general  counsel  of  the  railroad  that  ran 
through  Morganville,  but  that  was  about  all. 
Politics  engrossed  him  completely.  He  began 
work  vigorously,  strengthening  his  organisation 
and  making  his  plans  for  his  campaign.  Carver, 
the  new  district  attorney,  was  doing  well,  and  the 
election  fraud  cases  were  progressing  slowly,  but 
helpful  results  were  expected. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  taking  a  rest  cure.  She 
denied  herself  to  everybody,  remained  in  her  room 
most  of  the  day,  rarely  appearing  before  dinner 
time  —  she  had  long  before  changed  the  dinner 
hour  in  the  Marsh  household  from  noon  to  seven 
o'clock  at  night,  much  to  the  disgust  of  her  serv 
ants  —  and  had  a  masseuse  and  a  nerve  specialist 
come  down  from  the  city  twice  a  week.  Her 
former  dressmaker  solicited  some  of  her  custom, 
but  she  languidly  refused  to  consider  any  Mor 
ganville  artistes.  Her  old  friends  called,  but 
were  informed  that  she  was  recuperating  from  her 
arduous  social  duties  in  Washington.  The  local 
papers  had  a  paragraph  each,  contributed  by  Mrs. 
Marsh,  reciting  her  many  triumphs,  hinting  at  stil) 
greater  achievements,  and  stating  that  much  as 
Mrs.  Marsh  regretted  it,  she  was  compelled  to 
remain  in  strict  seclusion  to  recover  her  strength 
and  fit  herself  for  the  coming  season,  when  Miss 
Dorothy  Marsh,  who  had  graduated  at  Miss 
Capulet's  Fashionable  Seminary,  was  to  be  intro 
duced  to  the  most  exclusive  social  set  at  the  Cap- 


TOM  DARLINGTON  ENTERS     251 

ital.  The  paragraph  concluded  with  the  state 
ment  that  Miss  Marsh  was  already  hailed  in 
Washington  as  one  of  the  most  charming  and  at 
tractive  of  the  forthcoming  buds. 

Marsh  had  several  talks  with  Mrs.  Marsh  on 
the  subject  of  Dorothy.  He  found  his  wife  firm 
in  her  determination  to  marry  Dorothy  to  the 
best  possible  social  advantage.  Marsh  observed 
with  considerable  satisfaction  the  rather  fre 
quent  calls  of  a  certain  Thomas  Darlington,  a 
young  civil  engineer  of  Morganville,  who  had 
graduated  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin  and  had 
a  good  place  with  the  railroad.  Darlington  was 
a  bright,  well-bred,  good-looking  young  chap,  with 
stuff  in  him,  his  superiors  said,  and  he  was  devoted 
to  Dorothy.  The  seclusion  of  Mrs.  Marsh 
worked  to  the  advantage  of  Darlington,  and  he 
was  careful  not  to  be  conspicuous  when  Mrs. 
Marsh  was  about.  He  contrived  to  get  a  good 
many  afternoons  off  for  picnics  and  boating  ex 
cursions  with  the  young  people  who  lived  on  the 
hill,  and  on  these  occasions  he  was  always  Doro 
thy's  devoted  attendant. 

Although  Dorothy  did  not  care  for  society,  she 
quite  naturally  felt  interested  in  coming  out,  and 
thought  often  with  a  good  deal  of  pleasure  of  the 
receptions  and  teas  and  dances  and  other  gaieties 
that  were  ahead  of  her.  She  knew  she  would  get 
nowhere  by  protesting  against  her  mother's  plans, 
and  so  decided  to  have  what  fun  she  could  in 
the  coming  season.  At  other  times,  when  in  one 
of  her  more  serious  moods,  she  would  rebel  at 


252  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

the  thought  of  wasting  a  whole  winter  on  enjoy 
ment,  and  plan  vaguely  to  turn  her  life  into  useful 
channels.  Then  Tom  would  come  along  and 
take  her  out  in  his  motor  boat  and  she'd  forget 
everything  but  him. 

One  afternoon  late  in  August  they  were  chug 
ging  down  the  river.  Tom  was  running  the 
engine  himself.  He  had  his  coat  off  and  his 
shirt-sleeves  rolled  up,  showing  a  pair  of  muscular 
tanned  forearms.  His  hat  was  discarded,  his 
hair  rumpled,  and  there  was  a  smudge  of  black 
on  one  cheek.  Dorothy  sat  comfortably  in  the 
rear  of  the  boat,  half  reclining  on  the  cushions. 
She  wore  a  white  dress  and  looked  fresh  and 
pretty. 

Tom  had  been  tinkering  with  his  engine  and 
had  said  nothing  for  fifteen  minutes.  Dorothy 
sat  watching  the  sheen  of  the  sun  on  the  water, 
the  green  of  the  banks  that  glided  smoothly  by, 
the  little  waves  that  silvered  off  to  ripples  in  the 
wake  of  the  boat,  the  swallows  that  dipped  into 
the  water  and  shot  up  again,  the  widening  circles 
where  a  fish  jumped  for  a  fly,  and  the  lazy  clouds 
that  floated  high  above. 

"  Dorothy,"  said  Tom,  wiping  his  hands  with 
a  bunch  of  cotton  waste,  and  trying  to  make  his 
remark  seem  casual,  "  I  suppose  you  will  meet  a 
lot  of  fellows  down  there  in  Washington?  " 

"  I  suppose  so." 

"  A  lot  of  society  dudes,  I  reckon,  that  will  be 
taking  you  out  to  dances  and  to  shows,  and  send 
ing  you  flowers  and  all  that." 


TOM  DARLINGTON  ENTERS     253 

"  I  suppose  so,"  said  Dorothy  again,  as  if  the 
matter  were  one  of  supreme  indifference  to  her. 

"Damn  them!" 

"Why,  Tom  Darlington!"  exclaimed  Doro 
thy,  sitting  bolt  upright  and  looking  at  her 
smudge-faced  companion  in  amazement.  "  You 
mustn't  talk  like  that!  " 

Tom's  face  grew  so  red  that  even  the  smudge 
was  obscured.  "  I'm  sorry!  "  he  said  contritely. 
"  I  didn't  think.  But,"  he  added  defiantly, 
"  that's  what  I  mean  just  the  same." 

"  What  have  the  young  men  in  Washington 
done  to  you?"  asked  Dorothy,  accepting  the 
apology  and  setting  back  in  the  cushions. 

"  Nothing  —  yet." 

"Well,  then,  what's  the  matter?" 

"  It  isn't  what  they  have  done  to  me,"  Tom 
burst  out  passionately,  "  it's  what  I'm  afraid  they 
will  do  to  you." 

Dorothy  looked  serenely  unconscious  of  the 
real  meaning  of  this  remark,  and  evinced  a  sudden 
deep  interest  in  a  white  house  half  hidden  in 
trees  along  the  shore. 

Tom  was  silent  for  a  moment,  then  blurted  out: 
"  You  don't  care  for  this  social  game,  do  you, 
Dorothy?" 

"  I  hate  it." 

"  Then  what  are  you  going  back  to  it  for?  " 

Dorothy  laughed.  ''  Will  you  please  inform 
me,"  she  asked,  "  what  else  there  is  for  me  to  do, 
with  my  father  in  Congress  and  my  mother  trying 
to  be  a  social  leader?  " 


254  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Chuck  it,"  advised  Tom,  "  and  stay  here." 

"  Don't  be  foolish,  Tom.     How  can  I?  " 

Tom  Darlington  was  a  young  man  of  action. 
He  took  a  quick  look  at  his  engine,  which  was 
purring  along  smoothly,  shot  a  glance  over  the 
bow  of  the  boat  to  see  there  was  nothing  ahead, 
made  a  wild  dab  at  his  trousers  to  wipe  off  any 
remaining  grease  that  might  be  on  his  hands,  and 
made  one  leap  to  the  rear  of  the  boat,  landing 
skilfully  beside  Dorothy,  who  had  observed  his 
movements  with  wide-opened  eyes. 

"  How  can  you?  "  he  asked.  "  Easy  enough! 
Stay  here  and  marry  me.  I  love  you,"  he  stam 
mered.  "  Oh,  Dorothy,  I'm  just  crazy  about 
you !  You  know  I  love  you.  You  know  it's  real, 
and  not  like  any  of  that  bogus  stuff  down  there  in 
Washington.  I  —  I  —  well,  I  just  love  you, 
that's  all,"  he  concluded  lamely. 

For  a  young  woman  who  was  receiving  her  first 
proposal  Dorothy  was  most  self-possessed.  Her 
heart  fluttered  a  little,  but  she  was  outwardly 
calm. 

"  Don't  be  foolish,  Tom,"  she  protested. 

"Foolish!"  he  exclaimed.  "What's  foolish 
about  telling  the  sweetest  girl  in  all  the  world  that 
I  love  her.  Oh,  Dorothy,  please  —  please  — 
can't  you  love  me  a  little?  Won't  you  try?  " 

She  gave  no  answer.  "  I  think  you'd  better 
look  after  your  engine,"  she  suggested  after  a 
pause.  "  It's  skipping." 

What  Tom  said  about  his  engine  need  not  be 
recorded  here.  But  by  the  time  he  had  regulated 


TOM  DARLINGTON  ENTERS     255 

it  again  he  had  two  more  smudges  on  his  face, 
his  arms  were  blackened,  his  shirt  showed  signs 
of  the  encounter,  and  he  sulkily  sat  down  beside 
the  engine  and  steered  the  boat  home. 

"  Why  don't  you  talk?  "  asked  Dorothy. 

"  I've  said  all  I  have  to  say,"  he  replied,  looking 
straight  ahead. 

Dorothy  made  no  comment,  but  her  heart  beat 
rapidly  and  her  eyes  shone.  As  they  came  to  the 
dock  she  waited  until  he  had  the  boat  at  its  moor 
ings,  and  then  jumping  out,  she  said:  "I  must 
run  along  now,  for  it's  about  time  for  mother  to 
appear."  She  let  one  small  hand  rest  for  a  mo 
ment  on  the  only  clean  spot  on  Tom's  arm. 
"  Don't  you  worry  about  those  Washington  men," 
she  smiled  up  at  him;  "they're  not  worth  it." 
Then  she  ran  gracefully  up  the  street.  Two  hours 
later  Tom  Darlington  was  still  sitting  where  she 
had  left  him,  his  legs  dangling  over  the  side  of 
the  dock,  dreaming  the  dreams  of  youth  and  love, 
while  the  motorboat  rocked  gently  with  the  little 
waves. 


XXIII 

IN   SIGHT   OF   A   TOGA 

f  •  ^HE  opposition  to  Marsh  was  not  effec 
tive.  It  was  unorganised,  for  Mc- 
Manus  could  do  nothing  but  hate  and 

JL.  could  not  convert  that  hate  into  votes, 
and  Senator  Paxton  went  into  the  district  and 
used  his  influence.  Marsh  had  enhanced  his 
reputation  greatly  by  his  Reciprocity  speech  and 
by  his  fight  on  McManus.  He  controlled  the 
congressional  convention  easily,  was  nominated 
on  the  first  ballot,  and  in  his  acceptance  conse 
crated  himself  anew  to  the  great  cause  of  the 
common  people. 

His  convention  was  held  early  in  September. 
Even  then  Mrs.  Marsh  was  preparing  to  go  back 
to  Washington,  for  she  desired  to  take  her  house 
on  October  first,  and  it  was  essential  that  she 
should  get  everything  moving  smoothly  before 
she  introduced  Dorothy  to  society.  She  had  in 
formed  herself,  and  learned  the  proper  time 
for  that  important  function  was  the  latter  part 
of  November,  in  order  that  the  girl's  season  might 
be  as  long  as  possible  and  because  the  best  families 
always  brought  their  daughters  out  at  that  time. 
She  did  not  definitely  decide  upon  a  date.  That 

256 


IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA  257 

must  be  held  open  and  be  subject  to  the  dates 
selected  for  the  other  girls.  It  was  true  that  the 
daughter  of  the  president  was  to  come  out  that 
fall,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  had  another  reason  for  get 
ting  back  to  Washington  as  soon  as  possible. 
She  knew  the  absolute  necessity  of  seeing  the 
society  editors  and  photographers  and  of  making 
arrangements  to  have  Dorothy's  picture  appear 
together  with  those  of  the  most  prominent  de 
butantes.  It  took  tact  and  much  work  and  an 
expert  knowledge  of  conditions  to  bring  this  about, 
and  she  would  consider  her  campaign  a  failure  if 
Dorothy  were  not  presented  as  one  of  the  most 
exclusive  of  all  the  exclusive  buds  to  be  brought 
out  that  fall. 

Dorothy  was  a  passive  participant  in  these  prep 
arations.  She  had  tried  to  manage  things  so 
she  should  not  be  left  alone  with  Tom  Darlington, 
but  that  young  man  had  on  several  occasions 
found  an  opportunity  to  tell  her  again  of  his  love 
for  her.  Although  he  had  no  satisfactory  answer 
from  Dorothy  he  drew  considera-ble  comfort  from 
the  memory  of  that  time  on  the  dock  when  she 
had  touched  his  arm.  He  could  close  his  eyes 
and  still  feel  the  pressure  of  her  cool,  slim  fingers. 
He  walked  about  as  though  in  a  dream,  and  was 
sharply  reprimanded  several  times  by  the  engineer 
under  whom  he  was  working  for  writing  the  word 
"  Dorothy  "  into  his  specifications  for  culverts  and 
small  bridges.  At  one  moment  he  was  assuming 
little  airs  of  proprietorship  toward  Dorothy,  and 
the  next  he  was  torn  with  jealousy  because  she 


258  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

had  chanced  to  speak  to  or  even  look  at  some 
other  young  man. 

Finally  the  day  for  the  departure  came.  Mrs. 
Marsh  had  suddenly  recovered  her  energy.  She 
had  everybody  in  a  turmoil  of  arrangement  and 
directed  affairs  with  a  masterly  composure.  Tom 
Darlington  hung  round.  When  her  mother 
asked  about  him  Dorothy  explained  he  was  only 
one  of  the  boys  of  the  town  who  wanted  to  say 
good-bye.  Mrs.  Marsh  eyed  Tom  sharply  and 
had  her  suspicions,  but  that  young  man  main 
tained  a  most  discreet  demeanour  when  in  her 
presence.  He  had  planned  to  have  another  talk 
with  Dorothy  before  she  left  and  to  lay  his  heart 
at  her  feet,  and  he  had  spent  several  nights 
thinking  out  what  he  should  say  to  her.  In  the 
end  it  was  Dorothy  who  gave  him  his  opportun 
ity.  Half  an  hour  before  the  Marshes  were  to 
start  for  the  train,  Dorothy,  with  an  air  of  uncon 
cern,  made  some  pretext  for  going  out  into  the 
garden,  beckoning  him  with  an  almost  impercepti 
ble  motion  of  her  head,  to  follow  her. 

He  found  her  in  the  little  summer  house.  She 
was  dressed  in  a  grey  travelling  suit,  and  appeared 
perfectly  composed,  though  her  heart  was  beat 
ing  wildly.  Tom  started  impetuously  toward  her, 
his  declaration  on  his  lips,  but  when  he  saw  her 
standing  there  so  cool,  so  calm,  his  brain  refused 
to  work.  He  stammered,  stuttered,  forgot  what 
he  had  to  say,  his  face  scarlet,  his  hands  clasping 
and  unclasping  nervously. 

"  Dorothy,"  he  finally  managed  to  get  out,  "  I 


IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA  259 

—  I  —     Oh,  Dorothy,  don't  forget  what  you  said 
on  the  dock  that  day." 

Then  he  collapsed.  Not  another  word  would 
come.  Dorothy  laughed,  and  started  up  the  path 
toward  the  house,  and  as  she  went  she  called  back 
over  her  shoulder:  "  Don't  you  forget  it  either." 

Marsh  was  elected  easily.  Enough  Democrats 
voted  for  him  to  overcome  the  McManus  oppo 
sition.  Mrs.  Marsh  wrote  that  she  was  in  the 
house,  which  was  in  a  fashionable  neighbourhood, 
near  Sheridan  Circle,  and  surrounded  by  the 
palaces  of  the  millionaires  who  came  to  Wash 
ington  to  get  into  society.  It  is  easier  to  get 
into  Washington  society  if  you  have  money  than 
into  the  society  of  any  other  place  whatsoever. 
The  preparations  for  Dorothy's  coming  out  were 
progressing.  Mrs.  Marsh  had  engaged  a  butler. 
She  was  ordering  new  gowns  for  herself  and  for 
Dorothy.  The  city  was  beautiful  and  the  fash 
ionable  people  were  coming  back. 

Dorothy  also  wrote  to  her  father: 

"Dear  Popsie:  I  am  able  to  report  much 
"  progress  in  the  great  enterprise  of  introducing 
"  me  into  society.  We  have  a  house,  with  an 
"  English  basement  and  a  drawing  room,  and  a 
"  dining  room  that  has  so  much  Sheffield  plate  in 
"  it  it  looks  like  an  auction  store,  and  an  English 
"  butler  to  go  with  the  English  basement. 
"  Mamma  has  had  the  crest  of  that  automobile 
"  she  used  to  hire  engraved  on  her  notepaper, 


26o  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  and  I  spent  most  of  my  waking  hours  at  dress- 
"  makers  or  milliners  or  shoemakers,  until  I  feel 
"  that  I  am  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the 
"  tradespeople  in  the  city.  Our  butler  is  very  cor- 
"  rect  and  dignified,  and  has  side  whiskers.  I 
"  have  an  idea  he  doesn't  quite  approve  of  us. 

"  Mamma  and  I  have  joined  the  most  fashiona- 
"  ble  church  in  town.  She  said  it  took  much  in- 
"  fluence  to  get  a  pew  in  it,  and  she  considers  it 
"  a  great  triumph.  Her  pew  costs  two  hundred 
"  dollars  a  year,  and  it  is  only  a  part  of  a  pew  at 
"  that.  Of  course  we  are  not  Episcopalians,  and 
"  it's  an  Episcopalian  church;  but  mamma  says  that 
"  makes  no  difference.  It  isn't  the  creed  that 
"  counts,  she  says,  but  the  spirit  in  which  our  de- 
"  votions  are  approached.  I  heard  the  butler 
"  tell  the  cook  that  he  was  glad  we  had  decided 
"  to  identify  ourselves  with  a  church  that  was 
"  patronised  by  the  fashionable  people.  It 
"  helped  him  maintain  his  position,  he  said. 

"  My  party  will  be  the  last  week  in  November. 
"  The  president's  daughter's  party  is  the  same 
"  week.  Mamma  has  invited  her  and  all  her 
"  friends,  and  she  can  hardly  wait  to  know  whether 
"  they  will  accept.  She  took  me  over  to  the  pho- 
"  tographer's  yesterday  and  I  was  photographed 
"  forty  times.  I  had  all  my  dresses  there,  and  I 
"  dressed  up  and  posed  and  then  dressed  up  and 
"  posed  again.  It  was  very  exciting.  Won't  you 
"  be  proud  of  me  when  you  see  my  picture  in 
"  the  paper  along  with  the  president's  daughter 


IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA  261 

"  and  the  daughter  of  the  richest  woman  in  Wash- 
"  ington. 

"  There  was  talk  that  the  president's  daughter 
"  was  ill  and  wouldn't  come  out  this  fall,  and 
"  mamma  nearly  had  a  fit.  She  even  went  so  far 
"  as  to  open  negotiations  with  Miss  Capulet  to 
"  have  me  go  back  to  school  for  another  term. 
"  However,  the  girl  is  well  again  and  is  coming 
"  out,  so  mamma  has  decided  to  let  society  claim 
"  me  after  all.  It  is  our  social  duty,  she  says. 
"  Dutifully  and  lovingly, 

"  DOROTHY." 

A  few  days  after  election  Senator  Paxton  tele 
graphed  Marsh  to  come  over  to  see  him.  Marsh 
went  that  night,  and  drove  from  the  station  out 
to  the  Paxton  house. 

"  Jim,"  said  the  senator,  after  they  had  shaken 
hands,  "what  are  your  plans?" 

"  Why,"  Marsh  replied,  "  I'm  going  to  clean 
up  out  here  and  go  back  to  Washington  in  a 
week  or  so.  Mrs.  Marsh  has  taken  a  house  and 
Dorothy  is  to  be  introduced  to  society  in  a  few 
weeks.  I  suppose  I'll  have  to  help  pull  that  off." 

"  I  suppose  so,  but  that  isn't  important." 

"  Isn't  important?"  said  Marsh.  "Why,  my 
dear  senator,  it  is  the  most  important  thing  in 
the  world,  according  to  Mrs.  Marsh." 

"  Come  to  think  it  over,  I  suppose  it  is  from 
her  viewpoint,"  commented  Paxton.  "  Isn't  it 
amazing  how  hard  society  hits  some  people? 


262  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

We  seem  to  have  it  harder  in  Washington  than 
anywhere  else,  but  I  suppose  in  reality  it's  the 
same  everywhere,  only  down  in  Washington  the 
game  is  easier  and  the  rewards  quicker  than  else 
where.  I've  known  people  to  come  into  Wash 
ington,  Jim,  with  not  a  thing  in  the  world  to 
recommend  them  save  the  possession  of  a  few 
million  dollars,  or  maybe  only  one,  and  build  a 
big  house,  and  after  judicious  training  and  coach 
ing  develop  into  the  great  social  leaders  of  that 
place.  I've  seen  them  come  in  so  raw  the  man 
didn't  know  whether  a  red  tie  or  a  blue  one  went 
with  a  dress-suit,  and  the  woman  unable  to  get 
into  a  carriage  without  stepping  on  her  dress, 
and  in  three  or  four  years  become  such  swells  it 
made  your  head  ache. 

"  Several  clever  women  who  know  the  game 
have  made  good  things  down  there  coaching  in 
the  proprieties  our  newly  rich  and  newly  landed  in 
Washington.  I  recall  one  man  who  made  his 
money  in  the  West.  He  spoke  with  a  brogue, 
had  hands  as  big  as  hams  from  working  as  a 
labourer,  and  ate  in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  with  his 
knife.  They  took  him  and  polished  him  and  re 
fined  him  and  manicured  him  and  taught  him  the 
language,  and,  by  George,  in  four  brief  years 
you'd  have  thought  he  was  born  to  it.  Only  he 
had  one  great  grief  —  they  couldn't  find  any  way 
to  reduce  the  size  of  those  hams  of  hands  or  those 
big  feet  of  his,  and  when  he  got  interested  he 
lapsed  back  into  the  brogue.  And  they  took  his 


IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA  263 

wife  and  taught  her  to  dance  and  to  walk  and  to 
eat  and  to  sleep  and  to  bathe  and  to  stand  up  and 
to  sit  down,  and  they  enameled  her,  and  pruned 
her  where  she  needed  pruning,  and  padded  her 
where  she  needed  padding,  and  painted  her.  To 
day  she's  one  of  our  social  lights  and  the  leader 
of  the  exclusive  set.  And  more  power  to  her,  for 
she  had  the  stuff  in  her  or  she  wouldn't  have  been 
able  to  get  it  over. 

"  It's  funny,"  continued  Paxton,  puffing  at  his 
cigar,  "  that  we  all  strive  constantly  to  prove  we 
are  better  than  our  fellows  by  associating  with 
fewer  of  them.  What  we  desire  is  that  exclu 
sive  position  that  enables  us  to  look  down  on  the 
rest  of  the  world  as  a  trifle  better  than  they  are, 
because  we  can  do  something  they  can't  do,  or  go 
somewhere  they  can't  go,  or  speak  to  somebody 
they  can't  speak  to,  or  feed  somebody  they  can't 
feed.  Imagine,  for  example,  a  group  of  men 
getting  together,  organising  themselves  into  a 
club  and  hiring  a  house,  or  building  one,  and  sit 
ting  in  the  windows  of  that  house  and  looking 
out  at  a  man  who  passes  by,  and  saying  to  them 
selves  :  '  We  are  better  than  you  are,  sir,  be 
cause  we  can  come  in  here  and  you  can't.'  And 
it  is  the  same  with  this  social  game.  It  all  is 
predicated  on  the  proposition  that  some  people 
can  go  where  others  can't  and  that's  right  enough, 
I  suppose,  only  why  in  God's  name  should  we  take 
it  so  seriously,  when  there  are  big  books  to  read, 
and  big  pictures  to  see,  and  music  to  hear,  and  the 


264          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

great  out-of-doors  to  enjoy,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
rather  pressing  needs  of  our  fellowman  to  attend 
to?  But  that  isn't  what  I  wanted  to  say." 

Paxton  looked  keenly  at  Marsh,  who  was  sit 
ting  in  a  big  leather  chair  staring  out  of  the  win 
dow  into  the  dark.  "  Jim,"  he  said,  "  how'd  you 
like  to  be  senator?  " 

"  What?  "  shouted  Marsh,  jumping  up.  "  Say 
that  again?  " 

"  How'd  you  like  to  be  senator?  " 

Marsh  looked  incredulously  at  Paxton.  "  Quit 
joking,"  he  said. 

"  I'm  not  joking.  How  would  you  like  to  be 
senator?  " 

"  I'd  like  it  better  than  anything  else  on  this 
earth,  except  to  be  president,  and  I  don't  know 
but  I'd  like  it  better  than  that.  But  what  do  you 
mean?  Isn't  Rogers  going  to  be  a  candidate  for 
re-election?  " 

"  I  understand  he  is.'* 

"Then  where  do  I  come  in?" 

"  That's  what  I  want  to  talk  with  you  about. 
Rogers  has  been  in  the  Senate  for  twelve  years 
and  he  hasn't  made  a  dent.  He's  been  regular 
but  colourless.  He  voted  right  in  the  main,  but 
he  has  no  force  and  he's  getting  old.  He  wants 
to  stay  there.  Every  man  who  gets  there  wants 
to  stay  there,  so  there's  nothing  remarkable  in 
that;  but  I  have  been  talking  it  over  with  the  boys, 
and  they  all  think  we  need  a  younger  man  there 
and  they  all  think  you  are  that  man." 

Marsh  grew  pale  and  then  red.     He  felt  his 


IN  SIGHT  OF  A  TOGA  265 

heart  thumping.  He  was  flushed,  but  a  cold 
sweat  broke  out  on  his  forehead.  He  tried  to 
walk  across  the  room,  but  his  knees  bent  under 
him.  Senator!  James  Marsh  senator!  It  was 
the  realisation  of  his  fondest  dream. 

"But  what  about  Rogers?" 

"  We've  got  to  beat  him." 

'  That's  not  so  easy." 

"  I  know  it  isn't.  He  is  a  good  politician  and 
he  has  a  lot  of  friends.  However,  some  things 
can  be  done  as  well  as  others.  Do  you  want  to 
take  a  chance?  " 

Marsh's  heart  urged  him  to  say  yes.  His  brain 
bade  him  be  cautious. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  taking  a  chance?" 
he  asked. 

"  Exactly  what  I  said.  If  you  want  to  get  into 
it  we  will  get  behind  you  and  we  will  beat  Rogers 
if  we  can.  We've  got  to  start  right  now,  for  the 
legislature  meets  early  in  January.  Rogers  has 
been  so  sure  of  re-election  that  he  hasn't  made  any 
special  canvass,  so  we've  got  an  even  break  there." 

"  Is  it  fair  to  Rogers?  He's  always  been  a 
good  old  sport." 

"  Anything's  fair  in  politics,  Jim,  specially  any 
thing  you  can  do  for  yourself.  Will  you  go  in 
or  not?" 

"How  much  will  it  cost?" 

"  Oh,  I  should  say  about  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars." 

"  I  haven't  got  the  money." 

Paxton  laughed.     "  Jim,"   he   said,    "  do  you 


266          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

suppose  I  would  ask  you  to  go  into  this,  knowing 
your  financial  condition  as  I  do,  if  I  had  not  pro 
vided  for  that  end  of  it?  " 

"  Where's  it  coming  from?  "  asked  Marsh  sus 
piciously. 

"  Don't  worry  about  that.  Will  you  get  in  the 
game?  " 

Marsh  walked  over  to  the  window  and  looked 
out.  He  saw  visions  of  himself  in  the  Senate, 
of  himself  making  great  speeches  there,  shaping 
governmental  policies,  taking  a  big  part  in  big 
affairs.  Senator  James  Marsh !  His  heart  beat 
rapidly.  His  mind  flew  forward  and  pictured  one 
triumph  after  another  to  him,  until  he  saw  himself 
in  the  reviewing  stand  in  Washington,  in  front 
of  the  White  House,  on  March  fourth,  with  the 
bands  playing  Hail  to  the  Chief,  and  the  marchers 
cheering  him  as  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  turning  to  Paxton,  "  I'll  get  in 
the  game." 


XXIV] 

SENATOR   JAMES   MARSH   OR   CHAINS   OF   GOLD 


I 


talked  until  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  making  plans  and  discussing 
ways  and  means.  Marsh  discov 
ered  this  was  no  sudden  decision  on 
Paxton's  part.  That  experienced  person  had 
been  waiting  to  see  if  Marsh  was  successful  at  the 
election,  and  had  long  ago  decided  to  put  some 
body  else  in  the  place  of  Rogers.  They  sent  tele 
grams  to  leaders  in  various  sections  of  the  state, 
asking  them  to  come  to  Paxton's  house,  went  over 
the  list  of  members  of  the  legislature,  which  was 
heavily  Republican,  name  by  name,  marking  down 
beside  each  the  man  or  the  influence  needed  to 
control  his  vote.  They  gave  Rogers  every 
vote  they  thought  he  possibly  might  control 
and  when  they  had  marked  these  all  off  and 
had  made  their  "  doubtful  "  list,  they  found  they 
had  forty-two  votes  in  the  lower  house  and  six 
teen  in  the  upper  house  that  seemed  sure  for 
Marsh.  This  gave  them  fifty-six  votes  on  joint 
ballot,  and  ninety-seven  were  needed.  Their 
first  need,  however,  was  a  majority  vote  in  the 
caucus,  and  a  majority  of  the  caucus  was  seventy- 
six.  Hence  they  needed  twenty-one  or  two  votes 
to  make  sure. 

267 


268  THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

Next  day  the  leaders  came  in,  assented  to  the 
plan,  and  went  over  the  lists,  marking  off  some 
and  transferring  others  from  the  "  doubtful  " 
list  to  the  Marsh  or  Rogers  column.  Each  leader 
was  assigned  a  certain  set  of  legislators  and  or 
dered  to  report  to  Senator  Paxton  in  three  days 
after  sounding  these  men  out.  It  was  arranged 
that  nothing  should  be  printed  until  the  following 
Monday,  for,  as  Paxton  said,  "  Monday  is  the 
day  to  get  things  over  in  the  morning  papers. 
Mighty  little  happens  on  Sundays  and  news  is 
scarce,  and  we  can  get  a  bigger  showing  on  that 
morning  than  on  any  other."  Wherein  the 
senator  knew  what  he  was  talking  about. 

Marsh  wrote  to  Mrs.  Marsh  he  would  be 
detained,  not  telling  her  why,  for  fear  the  news 
might  leak  out  prematurely  in  Washington,  as 
news  frequently  does.  He  and  Paxton  inter 
viewed  men,  held  conferences,  and  Paxton  dis 
tributed  money  where  it  would  work  to  an  advan* 
tage,  and  brought  every  political,  personal,  finan 
cial  and  social  influence  he  could  command  into 
battle  array,  ready  to  charge  on  those  needed 
twenty  or  twenty-five  votes  as  soon  as  the  word 
was  given.  The  money  end  of  it  worried  Marsh. 
Paxton  seemed  to  have  all  the  funds  he  needed 
and  chequed  them  out  liberally. 

"Where  did  this  money  come  from?n  asked 
Marsh  one  day,  after  he  had  seen  Senator  Pax- 
ton  hand  a  worker  ten  fifty-dollar  bills. 

"  Oh,"  the  Senator  replied  in  a  matter-of-fact 


SENATOR  JAMES  MARSH        269 

way,  "  I  tapped  some  of  the  boys  back  East  for 
it." 

'Tapped  them?" 

"  The  same.  And  the  sap  flowed  freely  too 
—  the  bright  yellow  sap." 

"What  boys?"  insisted  Marsh. 

u  Sonny,"  replied  Paxton,  "  what  you  don't 
know  won't  hurt  you.  Suffice  it  to  say  you  desire 
to  be  United  States  senator.  Am  I  correct  in 
that  assumption?  " 

"  Certainly." 

4  Well,  there  are  others  who  may  share  in  that 
desire.  So  let  your  mind  rest  only  on  that  side 
of  the  matter,  and  arrange  your  affairs  so  you 
can  go  out  and  make  a  few  speeches,  and  tell  these 
good  people  of  ours  what  a  fine  thing  for  them" 
it  will  be  for  you  to  be  their  junior  representative 
•in  the  United  States  Senate." 

Paxton  was  right.  The  Monday  morning 
papers  carried  long  stories  about  the  candidacy  of 
Marsh  for  the  seat  of  Senator  Rogers.  That  es 
timable  statesman  was  taking  his  ease  in  New 
York  when  he  heard  the  news,  and  he  caught  the 
first  train  for  the  West.  The  Washington  papers 
printed  dispatches  telling  of  the  plan  to  make 
Marsh  senator,  and  giving  some  of  the  politics 
of  it,  with  brief  sketches  of  Marsh,  mostly  con 
cerned  with  his  ability  as  an  orator.  Marsh  re 
ceived  a  hysterically  happy  dispatch  from  Mrs. 
Marsh,  who  apparently  considered  herself  a 
senator's  wife  already,  and  undoubtedly  had 


270          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

pruned  her  social  list  again  on  the  strength  of  the 
information.  A  number  of  Marsh's  colleagues 
wired  him  good  wishes,  and  Quicksall  sent  him  a 
dispatch  that  showed  great  gratification  on  Quick- 
sail's  part  over  the  news. 

The  next  few  weeks  were  busy  ones.  Rogers 
was  not  without  friends,  by  any  means,  and  they 
rallied  to  him.  Paxton  and  Marsh  worked  un 
ceasingly,  and  Paxton  paid  out  money  with  a 
prodigality  that  made  Marsh  gasp. 

"  Senator,"  Marsh  said  one  day,  "  are  we  buy 
ing  any  of  these  votes?  " 

"  Well,"  said  Paxton,  "  I  would  hardly  put  it 
in  as  crass  a  manner  as  that.  What  we  are  do 
ing  here  and  there,  Jim,  is  to  persuade  certain 
prejudiced  legislators  to  listen  to  reason." 

"But  how?" 

"  By  the  judicious  application  of  plasters  guar 
anteed  to  improve  their  listening  faculties." 

"  What  kind  of  plasters?  " 

"  Shinplasters,  you  idiot!  Let's  go  over  that 
list  again." 

A  general  interest  was  taken  in  the  fight. 
Senator  Rogers  was  an  experienced  politician, 
and  there  were  many  men  in  the  state  under  po 
litical  obligations  to  him.  He  put  every  person 
he  could  into  his  campaign.  He  and  Marsh 
made  a  few  speeches,  and  immediately  after 
Christmas  the  campaign  directors  of  both  candi 
dates  moved  to  the  state  capital.  The  election 
of  a  senator  to  succeed  Rogers  was  set  for  Janu 
ary  fourth  and  the  caucuses  were  to  be  held 


SENATOR  JAMES  MARSH        271 

the  night  before.  The  opposition  newspapers 
charged  Paxton  was  spending  money  like  water, 
which  charge  did  not  affect  Paxton  in  the 
slightest.  He  Issued  a  statement  saying  he  was 
spending  nothing,  save  for  legitimate  publicity, 
and  made  the  countercharge  that  it  was  the  Rogers 
managers  who  were  trying  to  buy  votes. 

He  established  headquarters  in  the  political 
hotel,  and  sat  all  day  and  far  into  the  night  talk 
ing  in  whispers  to  men  who  came  furtively  in  and 
went  furtively  out.  He  sent  many  telegrams, 
wrote  reams  of  letters,  furnished  daily  pabulum 
for  the  newspapers  and  the  special  correspondents, 
and  always  had  his  chequebook  within  reach.  Oc 
casionally  he  would  hire  an  automobile  and  run 
out  into  the  country  to  meet  persons  who  did  not 
want  to  be  seen  about  headquarters.  He  was  a 
busy  man. 

On  the  afternoon  before  the  caucus  he  claimed 
the  selection  of  Marsh  as  the  candidate  of  his 
party  by  a  majority  over  Rogers  in  the  caucus  of 
fourteen  votes.  The  caucus  selection  was  equiva 
lent  to  the  election  by  the  legislature,  for  the 
caucus  would  bind  every  Republican  legislator 
who  went  into  it,  and  Paxton  would  see  to  it  that 
all  of  them  were  there. 

"  Jim,"  he  said  to  Marsh,  "  weVe  trimmed 
them." 

"  I  hope  I  haven't  been  trimmed  in  the  pro 
cess,"  said  Marsh  moodily.  "  How  much  has 
this  thing  cost?  " 

"  For  Heaven's  sake,  cheer  up !  "  exhorted  Pax- 


272  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ton.  "  One  would  think  you  were  being  sen 
tenced  to  hanging  instead  of  being  on  the  verge 
of  election  to  the  Senate." 

"  Maybe  there  isn't  so  much  difference,"  re 
plied  Marsh  gloomily,  for  he  had  seen  much 
money  paid  out,  money  he  knew  was  bribe  money 
used  for  the  direct  buying  of  votes. 

"  Look  here,  Marsh,"  said  Paxton  sharply; 
"  I'm  tired  of  this  damned  nonsense.  If  you  don't 
like  the  way  this  election  has  been  brought  about 
it  isn't  too  late  for  you  to  quit  now.  I  don't  have 
to  elect  you,  you  know.  I've  got  a  majority  of 
that  caucus  that  would  vote  for  a  yellow  dog, 
and  maybe  I'll  put  one  up,  if  you  don't  quit  grouch 
ing  round  here.  Stop  it  now  or  I'll  withdraw  you 
and  throw  all  my  men  to  Rogers." 

"  Oh,"   protested   Marsh  alarmed,    "  I   didn't 
_  n 

"Well,  then,  see  that  you  don't.  Don't  let 
that  ingrowing  conscience  of  yours  get  to  paining 
you  too  much  or  I'll  send  you  back  to  Morgan- 
ville  by  slow  freight.  Cut  it  out  now.  Are  you 
going  to  play  or  not?  " 

Marsh  hestitated.  He  knew  it  was  rotten, 
crooked,  vile.  Would  he  declare  himself  no  party 
to  it?  Would  he  allow  his  manhood  to  assert  it 
self?  Or  would  he  submit  and  take  the  office? 
Those  pictures  of  himself  in  the  Senate,  making 
great  speeches,  having  a  big  part  in  big  affairs 
flashed  before  him,  and  he  could  hear  the  bands 
blaring  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  on  the  fourth  of 
March. 


SENATOR  JAMES  MARSH        273 

"  Certainly  I'm  going  to  play,"  he  said. 

"  All  right  then,  and  forgetting  this  foolishness 
I  salute  you  as  my  next  colleague  in  the  Senate." 

The  caucus  was  held.  Paxton  was  correct  in 
his  estimate.  Marsh  had  a  majority  of  the  four 
teen  and  was  declared  the  party  candidate  for 
senator.  The  legislature  ratified  the  choice  of 
the  caucus,  the  Republicans  voting  for  Marsh  to 
a  man.  He  went  in  and  made  a  speech,  conse 
crating  himself  to  the  great  work  of  serving  the 
people,  as  he  had  similarly  consecrated  himself 
before  his  congressional  convention,  and  he 
worked  himself  into  a  frame  of  mind  where  he 
thought  he  meant  it. 

He  received  scores  of  congratulatory  telegrams. 
Among  them  was  one  from  Byron.  It  said: 
"  You  have  opportunity  and  you  have  ability. 
Cut  loose  before  it  is  too  late." 

Marsh  read  that  telegram  several  times. 
"  Cut  loose!  "  he  said  to  himself.  "  How  can  a 
man  cut  loose  who  is  bound  by  chains  of  gold?  " 


XXV 

THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY 


1 


Marshes  were  conducting  their 
campaigns  simultaneously.  While  Mr. 
Marsh  was  at  home,  seeking  to  be 
elected  to  the  Senate,  his  wife  was  in 
Washington,  planning  just  as  shrewd  and  as  care-- 
ful  a  campaign  to  make  her  daughter's  coming 
out  a  success.  The  date  for  Dorothy's  introduc 
tion  to  society  was  the  first  strategic  problem. 
Mrs.  Marsh,  as  soon  as  she  arrived  in  Washing 
ton  in  October,  had  set  about  finding  out  the  num 
ber  of  debutantes  there  were  to  be  that  season. 
She  had  secured  a  list  of  about  twenty,  for  there 
were  other  ambitious  mothers  who  were  equally 
well  aware  of  the  advantages  that  came  to  a  bud 
who  is  introduced  in  the  same  season  with  the 
girls  of  the  fashionable  families,  and  all  of  them 
were  making  the  same  sort  of  plans  Mrs.  Marsh 
was  making  and  scheming  and  contriving  as  cease 
lessly  as  she. 

Everything  centred  that  season  on  the  coming- 
out  of  the  daughter  of  the  president.  There 
fore,  it  was  Mrs.  Marsh's  first  concern  to  learn 
when  that  important  event  was  to  take  place. 
She  had  assiduously  cultivated  the  social  secretary 

274 


THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY      275 

at  the  White  House,  and  she  visited  that  arbitrary 
and  powerful  person,  and  managed  to  wheedle 
out  of  her  the  fact  that  the  daughter  of  the  White 
House  would  be  introduced  on  the  last  Thursday 
in  November.  As  soon  as  she  obtained  this  in 
formation  Mrs.  Marsh  hurried  out  her  invita 
tions  for  the  Tuesday  preceding  that  Thursday, 
pre-empting  that  date  and  making  it  doubly  secure 
by  sending  announcements  to  the  newspapers. 
She  divided  her  list  of  debutantes  into  three  parts, 
for  she  knew,  of  course,  as  every  society  woman 
knows,  that  even  the  buds  are  to  be  classified  into 
sets  —  the  really  fashionable  ones,  those  that  are 
a  little  less  important  and  exclusive,  and  finally 
those  that  are  merely  hangers-on,  who  seek  to  get 
advantage  by  hovering  on  the  outskirts  and  get 
ting  what  glory  they  may  by  coming  out  in  a  sea 
son  that  means  much  socially,  both  to  the  buds 
themselves  and  to  their  mothers. 

Mrs.  Marsh  refused  to  admit  even  to  herself 
that  Dorothy  came  in  this  latter  classification  and 
worked  desperately  to  include  Dorothy  in  the  first 
flight.  There  were  seven  of  these,  seven  girls 
including  the  president's  daughter,  who  were 
unquestionably  of  the  highest  social  class. 
Twelve  were  of  a  little  lower  grade  socially  and 
the  rest  merely  of  the  fringe.  Mrs.  Marsh  made 
her  classifications  skilfully.  She  not  only  invited 
the  first  seven,  but  made  sure  by  personal  solicita 
tion  they  would  attend  Dorothy's  party.  She 
also  included  the  next  division  and  a  few  of  the 
fringe.  She  was  very  happy  when  all  her  accept- 


276          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ances  were  in  and  the  success  of  the  affair  was 
assured. 

Her  next  concern  was  to  identify  Dorothy  still 
more  conspicuously  with  the  seven  girls  who  were 
the  leaders.  To  bring  this  about  she  manoeuvred 
for  days,  visiting  the  women  who  write  the  society 
columns  for  the  newspapers  and  urging  them  to 
include  Dorothy's  picture  in  the  group  that  should 
present  to  the  public  the  pictures  of  these  most 
important  girls.  She  had  helped  these  women  in 
every  way  with  news  and  gossip  and  knew  them 
well.  She  paid  particular  attention  to  the  women 
who  do  the  society  news  for  the  fashionable  illus 
trated  weeklies,  and  by  a  process  of  cajoling,  flat 
tering,  combined  with  judicious  influence  properly 
applied,  she  made  sure  that  the  picture  of  Miss 
Dorothy  Marsh,  daughter  of  the  Honourable  John 
Marsh,  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  po 
tential  senator,  would  be  in  that  group.  She 
began  this  early,  for  the  picture  layouts  —  which 
is  the  technical  term  —  for  the  weeklies  had  to  be 
made  up  some  time  before  the  publication  in  order 
to  be  printed  about  the  time  of  the  parties.  Mrs. 
Marsh  devoted  all  her  efforts  to  this  essential 
feature  of  her  campaign  and  was  successful.  She 
was  assured  that  the  picture  of  Dorothy  would  be 
presented  to  the  awed  public  in  the  same  group 
that  showed  the  president's  daughter  in  her  pretty 
frock,  and  spent  hours  and  hours  at  the  photo 
graph  gallery  with  Dorothy,  aiming  to  get  just 
the  right  picture  in  just  the  most  attractive  pose 


THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY      277 

for  this  purpose.  Nor  was  her  task  ended  then, 
for  she  must  keep  constant  watch  lest  some  other 
ambitious  mother  should  depose  Dorothy  and 
push  her  own  daughter  into  this  indispensable 
company. 

She  was  not  an  extravagant  woman,  in  the  sense 
of  wasting  money,  but  she  decided  to  stop  at  no 
expense  for  this  display  and  had  laid  the  facts 
fully  before  her  husband.  He  had  good-naturedly 
told  her  to  do  what  was  necessary,  and  had  pro 
vided  her  with  twenty-five  hundred  dollars  for 
house  account  and  for  her  campaign,  in  addition 
to  paying  the  first  monthly  instalment  of  the  rent. 
Mrs.  Marsh  economised  everywhere  except  in  the 
matter  of  the  coming-out  party.  She  and  Doro 
thy  lived  plainly.  She  scrimped  the  servants, 
did  without  many  things  that  would  have  added 
to  her  comfort,  and  saved  in  every  possible  way, 
but  she  was  prodigal  when  it  came  to  the  intro 
duction  of  Dorothy.  She  knew  she  could  make 
a  showing  with  an  afternoon  function,  a  recep 
tion  from  five  to  seven,  say,  with  the  other 
buds  there  and  plenty  of  flowers  and  food  and 
music,  but  she  decided  she  must  rivet  Dorothy's 
position  and  her  own.  After  much  thought  she 
planned  a  reception,  a  small  dinner  arad  a  dance. 
This  would  enable  her  to  ask  to  the  reception  all 
those  whom  she  could  by  any  possibility  ask  and 
who  might  add  some  distinction  to  the  affair,, 
and  to  make  up  an  extremely  select  party  for  the 
dinner.  About  fifty  of  the  most  desirable  ones 


278  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

were  invited  to  the  dance.  She  flooded  society 
with  the  invitations  for  the  reception,  sending  out 
fully  five  hundred  cards. 

As  soon  as  the  news  came  that  Marsh-  was  a 
candidate  for  the  senatorship  and  had  a  fair 
chance  of  election,  the  acceptances  increased  in 
number  and  in  importance.  The  mothers  who 
had  hesitated  about  accepting  for  their  daughters 
suddenly  decided  it  might  be  well  to  do  so,  and 
by  the  second  week  in  November  Mrs.  Marsh  was 
in  ecstasies  of  delight,  for  all  the  really  fashion 
able  debutantes  were  to  be  there,  and  Dorothy 
had  been  invited  to  every  one  of  their  parties,  in 
cluding  that  of  the  president's  daughter. 

The  buds  began  coming  out  early  in  November. 
Dorothy  went  careering  from  one  party  to  an 
other,  attending  luncheons  and  dinners  and  dances. 
She  was  full  of  life  and  spirits  and  enjoyed  her 
self  thoroughly,  although  she  was  so  well  in 
formed  as  to  the  plots  and  plans  and  intrigues 
of  the  scheming  mothers  behind  these  girls  that 
she  often  wondered  that  she  did.  Mrs.  Marsh 
guarded  her  carefully  and  kept  her  in  bed  on  days 
when  there  were  no  parties,  a  regimen  against 
which  Dorothy  protested  but  which  Mrs.  Marsh 
inexorably  enforced. 

Then  came  the  great  day,  the  Tuesday  before 
the  last  Thursday  in  November.  The  news 
papers  had  been  full  of  the  arrangements  for  the 
debut  of  the  president's  daughter,  but  Mrs. 
Marsh  had  seen  to  it  that  there  was  adequate 
mention  of  her  own  function.  On  the  Sunday  be- 


THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY      279 

fore  these  parties  the  newspapers  had  printed  the 
group  picture  of  the  most  important  buds,  and 
the  charming  face  of  Miss  Dorothy  Marsh  was  in 
each  one.  The  illustrated  weeklies  came  along, 
and  there  was  Dorothy's  picture  close  to  the  pic 
ture  of  the  president's  daughter  and  the  daughters 
of  the  other  big  families.  Mrs.  Marsh  cried  a 
little  when  she  saw  these  pictures  and  read  the 
flattering  text  that  referred  to  Miss  Dorothy  as 
"  one  of  the  most  charming  of  the  season's  array 
of  buds  from  official  and  residential  society  in 
Washington."  Likewise  she  sent  all  the  clip 
pings,  showing  the  pictures,  to  her  husband,  with 
a  letter  telling  in  detail  just  what  this  meant  to 
them  all,  and  pointing  out  that  it  meant  more  to 
him  than  to  any  one,  inasmuch  as  this  establish 
ment  of  their  social  position  would  undoubtedly 
aid  him  in  securing  further  honours  at  the  Capital 
and  elsewhere. 

Mrs.  Marsh  had  been  careful  to  include  in  her 
invitation  lists  a  number  of  the  most  available  of 
the  under  secretaries  and  attaches  of  the  embas 
sies,  and  as  it  was  known  that  the  president's 
daughter  was  to  be  at  Dorothy's  party,  most  of 
these  gilded  young  gentlemen  accepted,  thus  in 
suring  an  imposing  list  of  "  among  those  present  " 
for  the  newspapers  next  day.  She  had  set  her 
hours  from  five  to  seven  instead  of  from  four  to 
seven,  as  was  the  custom,  thereby  gaining  in  fash 
ionable  esteem,  and  she  had  filled  the  house 
with  flowers,  had  engaged  the  best  caterer  in  the 
city  for  the  refreshments,  and  had  secured  an 


280  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

orchestra  that  was  to  play  behind  a  bank  of  palms. 

At  five  o'clock  Mrs.  Marsh,  regal  in  a  new 
gown  of  yellow  satin,  took  her  stand  in  the  draw 
ing  room  with  Dorothy  beside  her.  Dorothy's 
gown  looked  simple,  but  it  really  was  a  most  ex 
pensive  affair,  and  had  been  the  cause  of  many 
tears  on  the  part  of  the  dressmaker  and  much  con 
cern  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Marsh.  The  butler, 
dignified  as  a  chief  justice,  was  at  the  entrance. 
Everything  was  in  readiness  for  the  great  social 
triumph  of  the  Marsh  family. 

The  other  buds  arrived  early  and  made  an  at 
tractive  group  in  the  drawing  room.  Then  the 
guests  began  dropping  in  in  twos  and  threes,  and 
presently  the  street  outside  the  Marsh  house  was 
jammed  with  automobiles  and  carriages  and  the 
drawing  room  was  crowded.  As  the  guests  en 
tered  the  butler  announced  them.  They  greeted 
Mrs.  Marsh  and  were  presented  in  turn  by  Mrs. 
Marsh  to  Dorothy.  The  crush  was  greatest  at 
six  o'clock.  There  were  few  of  the  older  men 
present,  although  some  husbands  came  with  their 
fashionable  wives,  but  the  young  men  were  in 
force,  under  secretaries  from  the  European  em 
bassies,  a  few  of  the  most  desirable  of  the  young 
Latin-Americans,  young  army  and  navy  officers, 
sons  of  senators,  and  some  of  the  sons  of  the  resi 
dential  families.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  radiant.  She 
knew  exactly  what  to  do,  regretted  the  sad  fact 
that  the  political  duties  of  her  husband  kept  him 
away,  received  her  congratulations  with  becoming 


THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY      281 

modesty,  smiled  complacently  when  they  told  her 
about  the  superlative  beauty  and  social  graces  of 
her  daughter,  and  was  a  most  admirable  as  well 
as  a  most  fashionable  hostess.  The  dinner  that 
night  was  a  triumph,  and  the  dance,  which  lasted 
until  midnight,  was  most  enjoyable.  After  the 
last  guest  had  left,  Mrs.  Marsh,  standing  with 
Dorothy  in  the  drawing  room,  that  looked  dis 
mally  empty  despite  its  abundance  of  decorations, 
threw  her  arms  about  her  daughter. 

"  We  have  arrived  at  last  I  "  she  cried.  "  After 
all  these  years  of  struggle  and  work  and  planning 
we  have  arrived.  I  am  so  happy!  It  has  been 
a  hard  fight,  but  it  is  worth  it.  Do  you  appre 
ciate  what  this  means  to  you  and  to  me,  Dorothy? 
They  were  all  there  —  the  best  people  in  Wash 
ington,  the  most  exclusive  families,  the  highest 
officials." 

"  Not  exactly  all,  mamma,"  protested  Dorothy. 
"  A  few  were  missing." 

"  I  think,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh  a  little 
coldly,  "  that  if  you  scan  the  lists  in  the  society 
news  in  the  morning,  you  will  discover  there  will 
be  as  many  fashionable  names  in  those  mentioned 
as  present  to-day  as  have  occurred  in  any  debu 
tante  list  this  season." 

Dorothy  laughed.  "  It  seems  to  me,"  she  said, 
"  the  only  reason  I  was  introduced  to  society  was 
to  have  a  list  of  those  present  printed  in  the  pa 
pers." 

Mrs.  Marsh  shrugged  her  shoulders.     "  I  have 


282          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

often  wondered,"  she  said,  "  if  you  fully  realise 
your  position  and  your  opportunities." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  said  Dorothy.  "  But  I  know 
you've  worked  very  hard  for  me,  mother  dear, 
and  I  really  am  grateful."  Long  after  her 
daughter  had  kissed  her  good-night  Mrs.  Marsh 
was  still  sitting  in  the  big  drawing  room,  dream 
ing  happy  dreams  of  social  triumphs  yet  to  come. 

She  had  her  plans  made.  In  any  event  she 
would  give  a  dinner,  a  most  exclusive  dinner,  and 
have  a  singer  or  a  musician  from  New  York  to 
entertain  her  guests.  Or  perhaps  she  might  have 
a  reception  with  a  singer  of  note,  and  if  her  hus 
band  should  be  elected  to  the  Senate  she  intended 
to  give  a  series  of  four  morning  musicales,  to 
which  she  would  invite  the  most  exclusive  women 
in  Washington.  She  sorted  out  in  her  mind  the 
four  gradations  of  guests,  taking  those  of  least 
account  for  the  first  musicale,  and  having  the  least 
expensive  artist  for  that  one,  and  so  on  until  the 
fourth,  when  she  would  have  only  the  most  exclu 
sive  women  and  a  great  musician.  She  could  pic 
ture  already  the  notices  that  would  appear  in  the 
papers. 

She  also  resolved  to  urge  her  husband  to  fur 
ther  efforts  in  money  making.  She  had  heard 
stories  of  how  this  man  had  a  retainer  from  such 
a  corporation  —  for  purely  legal  services,  of 
course  —  and  how  that  one  was  making  worlds  of 
money  in  the  stock  market,  and  she  decided  her 
husband  must  exert  himself,  for  she  knew  the 
social  campaign  she  had  planned  would  be  expen- 


THE  DEBUT  OF  DOROTHY      283 

sive.  It  was  Imperative,  though,  for  she  must 
press  the  advantage  she  had  already  secured. 
She  fancied  herself  a  senator's  wife,  and  her  mind 
ran  far  ahead  and  she,  too,  had  visions  of  the 
White  House,  with  herself  as  First  Lady  of  the 
Land.  And  it  was  all  in  her  husband's  interest. 
James  must  see  that  and  provide  the  money.  She 
was  unselfishly  giving  up  her  life  to  advance  him, 
and  he  must  do  his  part. 

The  butler  tentatively  turned  off  a  light  at  this 
point,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  roused  herself  and  went 
to  her  room,  to  lay  awake  for  hours  planning  new 
social  triumphs  for  Dorothy  and  herself,  looking 
ahead  to  the  day  when  Dorothy  should  marry  a 
man  who  would  help  them  both  with  fortune  and 
with  position  toward  the  goal. 


XXVI 

SANTA   CLAUS   ARRIVES 

MARSH  ran  down  to  Washington  for 
a    day    or    two    at    Christmas,    and 
found  Dorothy  and  Mrs.  Marsh  en 
gaged  in  a  round  of  social  pleasures. 
Dorothy  was  invited  to  the  numerous  luncheons, 
theatre   parties,    dances   and   teas   given   for   the 
buds,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  had  a  tea  and  a  theatre  party 
for  Dorothy.     Marsh  hurried  back  to  the  state 
capital,  and  returned  to  Washington  immediately 
after  his  election  to  the  Senate.      Mrs.  Marsh  un 
folded  her  social  plans  to  him.     She  told  him  of 
the  dinners  she  intended  to  give  and  explained  her 
plan  for  a  series  of  four  musical  mornings. 

"  Gee,  Molly,"  he  exclaimed,  "  that  will  take  a 
lot  of  money!  " 

'Yes,"  she  replied,  "it  will  cost  something; 
not  as  much  as  you  may  think,  but  something." 

"  You  know  our  living  expenses  are  horribly  in 
creased  with  this  house  and  all  the  rest  of  it," 
ventured  Marsh. 

"  I  am  fully  aware  of  all  that  too,"  she  said; 
"  but  if  you  will  stop  to  consider  the  advantages 
we  have  obtained,  the  manner  in  which  Dorothy 
has  been  established  —  why,  James,  she  is  invited 

284 


SANTA,  GLAUS  ARRIVES          285 

everywhere  and  so  am  I  —  you  will  see  that  it  is 
worth  whatever  it  may  cost." 

"  Molly,"  asked  Marsh,  "  just  what  do  you 
figure  it  is  worth  to  us?  " 

"  It  goes  far  beyond  mere  money  value,"  Mrs. 
Marsh  explained  eagerly.  "  It  has  established 
Dorothy  and  me  in  the  most  select  society  of  this 
city.  It  will  give  us  the  entree  to  the  houses  of 
the  ambassadors,  to  the  cabinet  homes,  and  will 
get  us  recognition  at  the  White  House.  Surely 
you  must  see  what  that  will  mean  to  you." 

"  I  know,  I  know,"  soothed  Marsh;  "  but  I  am 
not  a  rich  man,  Molly." 

"Why  are  you  not  a  rich  man?"  she  flared. 
"  Other  men  with  not  half  your  ability  or  your 
prominence  get  rich  in  Washington.  You  have 
friends  in  New  York.  You  made  money  in  that 
copper  stock.  Why  can't  you  make  more? 
Surely  you  owe  some  consideration  to  Dorothy 
and  myself,  who  have  worked  so  hard  to  help 
you." 

"  You  don't  want  me  to  be  dishonest,  do  you?  " 

"  Dishonest?  No,  but  who  says  Senator  Fer- 
singer  is  dishonest,  or  Senator  Pywell?  Who 
says  Representative  Danton  is  dishonest,  or  Rep 
resentative  Alton?  They  have  made  money  here; 
yet  they  are  not  called  dishonest.  They  take 
advantage  of  their  opportunities.  So  might  you 
if  you  only  would." 

Marsh  walked  away.  Fersinger,  he  knew,  had 
a  big  retainer  from  a  great  corporation;  Pywell 
represented  certain  railroads;  Danton  was  re- 


286  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ported  to  be  close  to  Wall  Street,  and  so  on.  He 
felt  there  was  some  reason  in  his  wife's  viewpoint. 
These  men  were  held  in  high  regard.  Nobody 
called  them  dishonest,  nor  did  they  consider  them 
selves  so.  They  were  simply  playing  the  game 
and  utilising  their  opportunities.  Why  shouldn't 
he? 

He  was  warmly  congratulated  on  his  election 
to  the  Senate.  The  organisation  leaders  in  the 
House  made  much  of  him,  although  they  mourned 
his  loss,  they  said.  He  was  invited  twice  to  din 
ners  given  by  the  Senate  leader,  and  Senator 
Paxton  gave  a  great  dinner  in  his  honour  at  the 
big  hotel,  where  there  were  a  hundred  and  fifty 
guests,  and  where  all  the  speakers  referred  to  him 
in  the  most  complimentary  terms  and  predicted  a 
great  future  for  him.  Before  the  end  of  the 
short  session  of  Congress  Marsh  felt  himself  to 
be  a  great  man. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  drawing  rather  heavily  on  him 
and  he  was  nearly  at  the  end  of  his  resources, 
when  one  night  early  in  February  Rambo  tele 
phoned  to  him  at  his  house  that  he  was  coming  up 
to  see  him. 

Rambo  plunged  at  once  into  the  subject  that 
concerned  him.  "  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  I  have  got 
a  chance  to  make  a  pot  of  money." 

"Well?"  said  Marsh,  displaying  interest. 

"  A  pot  of  money,  I  say,  and  I  come  to  you  be 
cause  you  can  do  more  with  what  I  have  than  I 
can.  Do  you  want  to  go  in?  " 


SANTA  CLAUS  ARRIVES          287 

"  How  can  I  tell  until  I  hear  more  about  it?  " 
asked  Marsh. 

"  Jim,"  said  Rambo,  glancing  around  the  room 
and  lowering  his  voice  to  a  whisper,  "  I  can  get 
an  advance  copy  of  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  in  the  Alta  Continental  Case." 

;'  What  of  it?" 

"What  of  it?"  sneered  Rambo,  looking  at 
Marsh  in  undisguised  contempt.  "  Nothing  of  it, 
except  that  the  stockmarket  will  break,  crumble 
on  that  decision,  and  if  we  know  it  in  advance 
we  can  clean  up  a  lot  of  coin." 

"  I  haven't  any  money  to  buy  stock  with,"  said 
Marsh. 

"  You  haven't  any  money  to  buy  stock  with," 
mimicked  Rambo.  "  Well,  neither  have  I  got  any 
money  I  am  going  to  buy  stock  with.  For 
Heaven's  sake,  wake  up !  Don't  you  see  what  I 
mean?  You  may  not  have  money  to  buy  stock 
with,  but  you  know  men  who  have  got  money 
to  buy  stocks  with.  Get  them  to  buy  the  stock." 

"Where  do  we  come  in?" 

Rambo  threw  his  arms  in  the  air  and  stamped 
about  the  room.  "  Great  God,"  he  shouted, 
"  are  you  such  an  infant  that  you  don't  know  where 
we  come  in?  We  come  in  because  for  the  infor 
mation  we  will  have  they  will  carry  a  certain  num 
ber  of  shares  of  stock  for  us  and  we'll  get  the 
profit  without  risk." 

"Will  they  do  it?" 

"Will  they  do  it?     Of  course  they  will  do  it. 


288  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

If  they  don't,  they  won't  get  the  information.  It's 
a  big  deal,  and  they  will  be  glad  enough  to  split 
for  the  information." 

"But  why  do  you  tell  me  about  it?"  asked 
Marsh  suspiciously. 

Rambo  sat  down  and  lighted  a  cigar.  "  The 
reason  I  tell  you  about  it,"  he  said  slowly,  "  is  be 
cause  you  have  connections  over  there  that  will 
operate  on  a  bigger  scale  than  any  of  mine, 
especially  as  you  are  now  a  senator-elect." 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"  Quicksall,  you  idiot !  Quicksall!  You  know 
him  and  you  know  he  represents  a  big  combination 
over  there.  He'll  take  a  chance.  That's  his 
business.  And  we've  got  to  work  quickly  too. 
This  is  Tuesday,  and  the  decision  is  coming  down 
next  Monday." 

'Where  did  you  get  the  decision?"  asked 
Marsh. 

"  Never  mind  where  I  got  it.  I'll  prove  that 
it's  genuine  all  right  when  the  time  comes.  It 
will  cost  five  thousand  dollars  and  a  few  shares  of 
stock  carried.  Will  you  go  in?  " 

Marsh  was  intensely  interested.  He  needed 
the  money.  He  had  heard  rumours  of  the  profit 
derived  from  a  foreknowledge  not  only  of  court 
decisions,  but  also  of  congressional  action, 
especially  in  tariff  matters,  and  he  pressed  Rambo 
for  further  details. 

"  Oh,  it's  all  right,"  said  Rambo.  "  If  you 
will  give  your  word  I'll  tell  you  how  we  can  get 
it." 


SANTA  CLAUS  ARRIVES          289 

Marsh  promised. 

"  A  stenographer  will  leak,  "  said  Rambo,  and 
would  go  no  further.  "Are  you  in?" 

Marsh  hesitated.  "  Hurry  up,"  urged  Ram 
bo.  "  We've  got  to  get  action  right  away.  If 
you  are  in  get  Quicksall  on  the  telephone  at  his 
house  or  his  club  and  tell  him  to  take  the  mid 
night  train." 

Marsh  fiddled  with  his  watchcharm  and  puffed 
nervously  at  his  cigar. 

"  Oh,  hell!  "  said  Rambo,  "  come  on.  There's 
no  danger.  Nobody  will  know  anything  about 
it.  Here,  where's  your  telephone?" 

He  went  to  the  telephone  and  said  to  the  op 
erator:  "Give  me  the  toll  board,  please. 
Hello,  toll,  this  is  —  Marsh,  what's  your  number 
—  this  is  North  16766.  I  want  George  F. 
Quicksall,  who  lives  not  far  from  Fifth  Avenue 
on  East  Seventy-third  Street,  New  York.  (  You 
can  find  his  number  in  the  book.  If  he  isn't 
there  try  the  Metropolitan  Club.  Call  me,  and 
please  hurry  the  connection  as  much  as  you  can." 

Marsh  several  times  started  to  protest,  but  each 
time  he  refrained.  It  seemed  safe.  It  was  legit 
imate  enough,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  for  he 
had  no  dealings  with  the  stenographer.  He 
calmed  his  conscience  with  the  thought  that  he  was 
no  briber.  He  was  merely  utilising  information 
that  came  to  him  from  a  friend.  It  was  a  flimsy 
pretext,  but  he  saw  visions  of  immediate  cash. 

"  When  we  get  Quicksall,"  said  Rambo,  "  tell 
him  to  come  over  on  the  midnight  train;  that  it's 


290  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

very  important;  and  he'll  come  all  right.  And 
Marsh,"  Rambo  continued,  his  face  hardening, 
"  you've  got  to  make  this  deal  a  good  one.  Don't 
let  Quicksall  put  anything  over  on  you.  He's  a 
trader  and  is  always  looking  for  the  best  of  it. 
He'll  want  to  let  you  down  with  five  hundred 
or  a  thousand  shares.  That  won't  do.  Make 
him  carry  us  for  two  thousand  shares  apiece  and 
put  up  the  five  thousand  dollars,  or  there's  no 
thing  doing.  If  he  won't  come  across  we'll  try 
Tipton,  of  the  other  big  bunch  over  there.  Tell 
him  that.  Don't  let  him  con  you." 

The  telephone  bell  jangled.  "  All  ready  with 
New  York,"  said  the  long-distance  operator. 

Quicksall  was  on  the  telephone.  Marsh 
talked. 

"  Hello,  Quicksall.  This  is  Marsh  —  yes, 
Senator  Marsh  —  or  it  will  be  pretty  soon. 
Thank  you.  I  have  a  very  important  matter  I 
want  to  talk  to  you  about.  No,  that  won't  do; 
can't  you  take  the  midnight  train  to-night?  It's 
very  important.  All  right.  Come  out  to  my 
house  for  breakfast  —  I'll  expect  you  about  eight 
o'clock.  The  train  gets  in  at  seven-thirty. 
Thanks.  Good-bye." 

Marsh  turned  to  Rambo.  "  You're  sure  it's 
safe?  "  he  asked  a  bit  tremulously. 

"  Sure,  it's  safe.  No  one  on  earth  will  know 
anything  about  it.  You  make  the  deal  and  tele 
phone  me  and  we'll  both  meet  Quicksall  at  noon 
and  I'll  give  him  the  notes  of  the  decision.  It's  a 
corker!  There  will  be  something  doing  in  Alta 


SANTA  CLAUS  ARRIVES          291 

Continental  all  right  when  Wall  Street  gets  it. 
We've  got  to  work  fast  for  this  damned  sten 
ographer  may  peddle  this  decision  to  somebody 
else.  There's  no  honour  among  that  kind  of  cat 
tle.  If  it  gets  out  before  Monday  the  stuff  will 
begin  to  break  before  that." 

Quicksall  came  up  to  Marsh's  house  for  break 
fast.  Marsh  told  him  what  he  had,  or  what  he 
could  get  rather.  Quicksall  was  greatly  inter 
ested. 

"  Sure  it's  straight?"  asked  Quicksall. 

"  It's  the  stenographer's  final  notes  of  the 
decision." 

"  What's  the  trend  of  it?  "  asked  Quicksall  in 
nocently. 

"  Can't  say,  "  fenced  Marsh.  "  I  haven't  seen 
it  yet." 

"Then  how  do  you  know  it's  genuine?" 

"  Oh,  I  know  it's  all  right.  Don't  worry  about 
that." 

"  Well,  "  said  Quicksall,  "  what  do  you  want 
me  to  do?  " 

"  Carry  some  stock  for  myself  and  my  associates 
in  the  deal  you  make." 

"  All  right,"  said  Quicksall,  as  if  it  was  all 
settled;  "  I'll  put  you  in  for  a  thousand  shares." 

"A  thousand?" 

'  Yes,  I'll  carry  you  for  a  thousand  shares,  if 
it  looks  as  good  after  I  get  it  as  you  say  it  is." 

"  Quicksall,"  said  Marsh,  his  heart  thumping 
but  his  voice  steady,  "  I'm  afraid  we  can't  do  any 
business." 


292  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"Why  not?"  asked  Quicksall  sharply. 

"  Because  my  associates  won't  give  up  this  in 
formation  for  so  small  a  price." 

"  A  thousand  shares  of  stock  is  a  lot  of  stock,  " 
commented  Quicksall,  eying  Marsh  narrowly; 
"  but  I  don't  want  to  be  a  tight-wad  in  this  affair. 
Suppose  we  say  fifteen  hundred?  " 

"  Not  enough,"  Marsh  tried  to  be  very  busi 
nesslike,  but  he  felt  his  voice  trembling. 

"  Not  enough?  "  exclaimed  Quicksall.  "  How 
much  do  you  wolves  want  then?  " 

"  Four  thousand  shares." 

"Holy  Moses!"  shouted  Quicksall.  "Do 
you  think  we've  got  all  the  money  in  the 
world?" 

"  Maybe  not,"  said  Marsh,  "  but  this  deal  is 
big  enough  to  entitle  us  to  four  thousand  shares 
of  stock  in  it." 

"  Look  here,  Marsh,"  said  Quicksall,  "  I've 
always  done  the  fair  thing  by  you.  What's  the 
use  of  laying  down  on  me  this  way?  We've  got 
to  take  the  risk  and  put  up  the  money.  Make 
it  three  thousand." 

Marsh  had  gained  courage  by  this  time.  He 
saw  Quicksall  was  most  anxious  to  get  the  in 
formation,  and  he  was  sorry  he  had  not  set  his 
figure  at  five  thousand  shares. 

"  Four  thousand  shares  or  nothing,"  he  in 
sisted. 

"  All  right,"  assented  Quicksall,  "  where's  your 
dope?"  They  telephoned  to  Rambo,  who  met 
them  at  one  of  the  hotels.  Quicksall  smiled 


SANTA  CLAUS  ARRIVES          293 

when  he  saw  Rambo.  :'  Pressing  things  a  little, 
ain't  you,  Rambo?"  he  asked. 

"  Oh,"  and  Rambo  grinned  as  he  said  it, 
"  everything  is  fair  in  high  finance,  Quicksall." 

The  deal  was  arranged.  Quicksall  gave  his 
word  he  would  carry  four  thousand  shares  of 
stock  and  received  the  notes  of  the  decision.  He 
caught  the  Congressional  Limited  to  New  York 
at  four  o'clock  and  Marsh  and  Rambo  awaited 
events.  In  order  to  help  along,  Rambo  gave  out 
a  story  to  some  friends  of  his,  who  had  wire  con 
nections  with  Wall  Street,  that  the  long-expected 
decision  in  the  Alta  Continental  Case,  which  would 
probably  be  handed  down  on  Monday,  was  fa 
vourable  to  the  contention  of  the  corporation. 
This  held  the  stock  steady  in  New  York  for  a  day 
or  so,  while  Quicksall  made  his  arrangements  to 
sell  a  great  many  thousand  shares  at  the  proper 
time,  for  the  stock  was  sure  to  break. 

Monday  came  and  the  small  courtroom  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  crowded,  for  the  vital  deci 
sion  was  expected.  The  alert  reporters  who 
flashed  the  decisions  to  New  York  were  standing 
near  the  door.  Their  familiarity  with  the  meth 
ods  and  manners  of  the  court  was  so  great,  and 
their  knowledge  of  the  cases  so  intimate,  they 
could  tell  the  general  trend  of  a  decision  after 
hearing  a  few  hundred  words  of  it.  The  best  of 
them  kept  a  card  index  on  every  important  case, 
containing  the  main  points  of  the  various  conten 
tions,  summarised,  and  as  soon  as  the  drift  of  the 
opinion  became  apparent  they  were  able  to  write 


294          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

a  bulletin  for  the  New  York  wires  that  would  get 
to  Wall  Street  instantly,  as  wires  were  kept  open 
for  that  purpose  on  decision  days. 

A  few  important  decisions  were  announced  and 
then  one  of  the  justices  began  to  read  the  decision 
in  the  Alta  Continental  Case.  Before  he  had 
read  five  minutes  the  expert  reporters  knew  the 
decision  was  adverse  to  the  Alta  Continental  con 
tention,  and  they  flashed  the  first  bulletin; 
"  Scotus  "  —  Scotus  is  the  telegraphic  code  word 
for  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  —  "  de 
cides  adversely  Alta  Continental,"  and  supple 
mented  that  information  with  other  bulletins  giv 
ing  the  details  of  the  decision.  The  stock  broke 
heavily,  selling  off  ten  dollars  a  share  almost  in 
stantly,  then  coming  back  and  then  going  down, 
until  the  total  loss  of  the  day  was  a  fraction  over 
eleven  dollars  before  the  financial  powers  could 
get  their  support  in. 

Quicksall's  brokers  were  prepared.  They 
executed  their  orders,  covered  at  an  average  of 
ten  dollars  profit,  and  Quicksall  wired  Marsh: 
"  Santa  Claus  arrived  on  schedule  time." 

A  day  or  two  later  Marsh  received  a  cheque  for 
$39,500,  which  was  the  $40,000  profit  on  the  deal 
less  the  broker's  commissions.  He  put  this 
cheque  in  his  bank  and  gave  a  cheque  to  Rambo 
for  half  of  it.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  delighted. 
Marsh  did  not  tell  her  the  details  of  his  trans 
action,  but  he  told  her  he  had  made  fifteen  or  six 
teen  thousand  dollars,  and  she  planned  another 
reception  with  a  grand-opera  star  from  New  York 
as  the  added  attraction. 


XXVII 

A   SUITABLE   ALLIANCE 

DOROTHY  received  many  letters  from 
Tom  Darlington;  each  protesting  un 
dying  affection,  and  had  written  him 
several  non-committal  replies  devoted 
mostly  to  her  social  adventures.     After  he  had 
received  one  of  these,  Tom  was  downcast  and 
gloomy  for  days.     He  still  looked  on  the  whole 
of  Washington   society  with  suspicion   and  held 
to  his  belief  that  Dorothy  would  be  snatched  from 
him  by  some  young  man  down  there. 

The  fact  was  Dorothy  met  many  young  men 
and,  as  she  was  an  attractive  girl,  had  her  share  of 
attention,  but  she  danced  as  gaily  and  flirted  as 
harmlessly  with  one  as  with  another.  Mrs. 
Marsh  still  had  her  four  desirables  in  mind,  and 
she  saw  to  it  they  were  included  in  all  her  lists, 
while  she  urged  Dorothy  to  attend  every  func 
tion  where  any  one  or  all  of  them  might  be. 
She  had  not  positively  decided  on  which  one  she 
would  make  her  son-in-law,  but  her  preferences 
were  centred  on  a  young  man,  the  son  of  the 
very  rich  Senator  Wheeldon,  from  an  Eastern 
state,  who  was  devoting  himself  to  society  and  the 
usual  diversions  of  rich  young  men  in  Washing- 

295 


296          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

ton,  and  who  had  not  a  thought  of  marrying 
Dorothy  or  any  one  else. 

One  afternoon  Dorothy  met  Mrs.  Lyster  at  a 
reception. 

"  Sit  down,  my  dear,"  said  that  sprightly  lady, 
"  and  have  a  chat  with  me.  How  are  you  com 
ing  along  in  society?" 

"  Ob,"  replied  Dorothy,  "  famously,  I  should 
suppose,  if  going  everywhere  means  getting  along 
in  society." 

"  Indeed  it  does,"  said  Mrs.  Lyster,  "  and  that 
is  all  it  means.  Society,  as  we  indulge  in  it  here, 
consists  of  going  to  functions  given  by  other 
people,  which  bore  you,  in  order  that  other  people 
will  come  to  your  functions,  which  bore  them. 
We  work  at  it  as  hard  as  we  should  work  at  mak 
ing  dresses  if  we  were  seamstresses,  and  without 
the  reward  of  something  accomplished  the  seam 
stress  has.  We  struggle  to  have  people  who 
consider  themselves  more  exclusive  than  we  are 
let  down  the  bars  for  us,  fight  desperately  to  get 
within  the  sacrosanct  inclosure,  and  once  we  are  in 
we  immediately  put  up  the  bars  against  all  others 
who  may  be  making  the  same  fight  we  are.  We 
increase  our  own  importance  by  arrogating  to  our- 
self  the  importance  of  others,  as  soon  as  we  feel 
the  others  and  more  important  have  acknowl 
edged  us  at  a  portion  of  their  own  estimates  of 
themselves.  Then  we  press  on  and  on,  and  every 
time  we  can  attach  ourselves  to  some  one  higher 
up  than  we  are  we  push  down  those  who  are  be 
low  us  and  reach  out  for  those  above  us.  It's 


rA  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE          297 

an  endless  struggle,  a  continual  battle  to  get  dis 
tinction  from  association  with  those  who  seem  to 
be  distinguished  and  to  keep  others  from  using  us 
for  the  very  same  purposes. 

"  I  don't  suppose  you  see  the  humour  of  it  yet, 
but  you  will  in  time.  I  go  to  dinner  after  dinner 
and  meet  almost  the  same  people.  Once  in  a 
while  there  is  a  new  one,  somebody  who  has 
fought  her  way  in  and  has  brought  her  self-con 
scious  husband  with  her.  They  are  all  the  same, 
served  by  the  same  caterer  with  the  same  menus. 
Why,  do  you  know,  I  am  so  accustomed  to  seeing 
the  waiters  at  these  dinners  that  I  have  to  re 
strain  myself  lest  I  should  shake  hands  with 
them  as  old  friends  and  ask  after  the  children. 
We  talk  of  the  same  things.  I  know  perfectly 
well  that  if  I  were  to  be  transported  to  some  other 
clime  for  ten  years,  and  then  should  be  brought 
back  again,  I  would  hear  the  women  I  would  meet, 
and  the  men  too,  talking  about  exactly  the  same 
things  they  were  talking  about  when  I  went  away, 
and  sharing  their  infinitesimal  ideas  about  society 
without  a  change  of  expression  even. 

"  Of  course  it  isn't  all  so,  for  there  are  scores 
of  cultured  women  in  this  city  who  have  a  wide 
and  varied  range  of  information,  and  who  can 
talk  interestingly  on  interesting  topics,  women 
who  are  not  fashionable  in  the  society  sense  of 
that  much  misused  word,  but  who  have  charming, 
cultured  homes,  who  are  quick  to  seize  the  great 
advantages  that  come  to  any  woman  who  lives  in 
Washington,  and  who  know  and  understand  the 


298  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

affairs  of  the  day  that  centre  here.  There  are 
women  whom  it  is  a  delight  to  know,  who  give 
dinners  and  receptions  where  you  meet  real  men 
and  real  women,  but  these  are  not  the  ones  whose 
doings  are  chronicled  through  efforts  of  their  own 
so  constantly  in  the  newspapers,  and  whose  high 
est  ambition  is  to  outshine  a  neighbour  or  a  friend 
—  save  the  mark  —  by  snaring  for  her  house 
some  more  distinguished  person  or  some  more  ex 
clusive  woman  than  her  friend  can  obtain.  We 
lift  ourselves  by  hanging  to  the  coattails  and  the 
trains  of  those  who  are  just  above  us.  And  when 
we  get  to  the  top,  when  we  are  the  ones  for  whose 
favour  all  the  underlings  are  striving,  how  quickly 
we  forget  our  own  strivings  and  how  vastly  ex 
clusive  we  become." 

Mrs.  Lyster  stopped  and  sipped  her  tea.  "  I 
hope  you  don't  mind  the  maunderings  of  an  old 
lady  who  means  well,"  she  said. 

"  It's  very  interesting,  provided  it  isn't  per 
sonal,  and" — she  smiled  at  Mrs.  Lyster  —  "of 
course  it  isn't  personal." 

"  Oh,  certainly  not,"  that  lady  hastened  to  say. 
"  It's  entirely  general,  I  assure  you.  But  in  a 
broad  way,  you  know,  every  climber  is  like  every 
other  climber.  They  all  prefer  a  nod  from  a 
higher-up  to  a  gift  from  a  lower-down,  however 
meritorious  a  lower-down  may  be;  but  when  a 
climber  gets  at  or  near  the  top  she  straightway 
forgets  her  own  woes  and  disappointments  and 
anguish  and  discouragements,  and  instead  of  being 
sympathetic  with  those  who  are  treading  the 


A  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE          299 

weary  path  she  has  trod,  she  becomes  cold  as  ice 
and  puts  every  possible  barrier  in  the  way  of  those 
poor  souls.  In  other  words,  after  working  until 
she  is  on  the  verge  of  nervous  prostration  and 
plotting  and  scheming  and  intriguing  to  get  into  the 
exclusive  set,  regardless  of  whether  those  already 
in  want  her  or  not,  which  nine  times  out  of  ten 
they  do  not,  she  instantly  forgets  her  own  trials 
and  stands  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  her  new 
found  social  compatriots  to  keep  everybody  else 
out.  Oh,  my  dear,  it  is  a  heartbreaking  system, 
and  so  useless  —  for  the  mere  drudgery  and  de 
tail  and  mustness  of  continual  attention  to  it  so 
exhausts  a  woman  she  has  nothing  to  give  that 
can  benefit  anybody,  nor  have  those  with  whom  she 
mingles  anything  to  give  her,  and  neither  could 
receive  even  if  the  others  had  all  the  knowledge 
of  the  ages  at  their  control. 

"  But  I'm  too  serious !  How  are  you  getting 
on  with  the  younger  diplomatists?  " 

"  Well  enough,"  said  Dorothy,  thinking  of 
Tom  Darlington's  passionate  protests  against  get 
ting  on  with  them  at  all. 

u  I  don't  see  how  we  could  manage  without 
them,  the  dear,  useful  chaps,"  continued  Mrs. 
Lyster.  "  If  we  did  not  have  the  younger  dip 
lomatists  to  fall  back  on  we  never  should  have  any 
men  at  our  affairs.  But  those  gallant  lads  are 
always  ready.  They  will  come  to  teas  and  to 
dinners,  and  if  one  is  wise  one  always  knows 
where  to  find  one  of  them  to  fill  in  when  a  guest 
has  failed  one.  Besides,  even  if  they  do  not  come 


300          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

they  always  get  cards  and  are  entirely  too  gentle 
manly  to  say  anything  when  they  find  themselves 
reported  in  the  newspapers  as  having  been  here 
and  there,  giving  tone  by  their  titles  or  their  posi 
tions  to  functions  they  never  attended  at  all,  but 
for  which  they  had  cards,  of  course. 

"  One  of  them  told  me  all  the  clothes  he  needed 
were  an  afternoon  suit,  an  evening  suit  and  a  suit 
of  pyjamas,  for  he  never  went  out  until  it  was 
time  to  go  to  a  tea  and  he  always  had  invitations 
to  dinner.  In  this  way  he  had  no  expense  be 
yond  his  room  rent;  but  he  said  he  did  wish  it 
would  come  to  be  the  custom  to  serve  bacon 
and  eggs  instead  of  pale  punch  and  small  cakes 
at  afternoon  affairs,  for  he  was  very  tired  of 
breakfasting  on  that  sort  of  stuff  and  he  drank 
so  nuch  tea  it  positively  was  making  him  nervous. 

"  And,  by  the  way,  my  dear,  I  hope  you  have 
selected  your  hairdresser  and  your  manicure 
and  your  masseuse  with  discretion.  You  cannot 
imagine  of  what  inestimable  benefit  these  creatures 
are  if  you  get  the  right  ones.  Be  sure  and  engage 
only  those  who  go  to  the  houses  of  the  social 
leaders,  for  in  this  way  you  are  able  to  keep 
track  of  affairs  nicely.  After  they  once  get  to 
know  you  these  people  are  invaluable  for  purposes 
of  information.  They  see  everything  and  hear 
everything  and  they  are  delightful  gossips.  I 
have  learned  of  many  a  social  stratagem  while  my 
hair  was  being  treated  or  my  body  massaged.  Of 
course  they  talk  about  your  affairs  to  others,  but 
one  must  take  that  chance;  and  then,  you  know, 


A  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE          301 

one  always  thinks  herself  impeccable,  and  that  is 
comforting." 

A  stately  woman  swept  through  the  room, 
elaborately  dressed.  She  was  about  half  as 
youthful  as  her  clothes.  "  Positively  she  gets 
younger,  as  to  toilettes  at  least,  every  day.  And 
she  holds  her  own  physically  too." 

Mrs.  Lyster  smiled  at  Dorothy.  "  Let  me  tell 
you  something,"  she  said.  "  The  secret  of  lon 
gevity  is  to  be  well-to-do  or  a  rich  widow.  Such 
people  never  die.  This  city  is  filled  with  rich 
widows  who  have  discovered  the  life  eternal. 
Years  and  years  ago  father,  after  making  his  pile 
and  unmaking  himself  in  the  process,  died  and  left 
the  results  of  all  his  struggles  and  his  scheming 
and  contriving  to  mother,  including  a  very  wel 
come  portion  of  life  insurance.  Mother,  well  pro 
vided  for,  has  nothing  on  earth  to  do  but  live, 
and  she  lives  on  and  on  and  on.  There  are  scores 
of  others  like  her,  whom  I  have  known  for  twenty 
years,  and  they  are  just  as  lively  and  just  as  far 
from  dissolution  as  they  were  when  I  first  en 
countered  them.  They  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  take  care  of  themselves,  and  they  have  that 
down  to  a  science.  They  eat  sparingly,  sleep 
well  and  have  no  worries.  That's  the  prescrip 
tion,  Miss  Dorothy,  for  a  long,  long  life.  Get 
married,  get  a  husband  who  can  and  will  be  ap 
preciative  in  his  will,  weep  decorously  when  his 
efforts  to  pile  up  money  for  you  cut  him  off  in  the 
flower  of  his  youth,  and  then  live  happily  forever 
after.  But  I  must  be  going.  Don't  mind  my 


302  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

nonsense,  my  dear.  I  have  to  talk  something  be 
sides  the  usual  piffle  at  times  or  explode,  and  this 
time  I  selected  you  for  my  victim.  Good-bye. 
Come  in  and  see  me  when  you  get  an  opportunity." 

She  moved  away,  laughing,  and  Dorothy  went 
back  home  and  there  found  another  letter  from 
Tom  Darlington.  It  was  a  long  letter,  and  it 
said  explicitly  and  passionately,  that  unless  a  cer 
tain  divinity,  by  name  Dorothy  Marsh,  took  pity 
on  the  frightful  state  of  mind  and  heart  of  one 
Thomas  Darlington,  said  young  man  would  not 
hold  himself  responsible  for  what  might  ensue. 
One  of  the  consequences,  it  was  darkly  hinted, 
might  be  a  visit  to  Washington  and  the  seizure 
of  the  young  lady  in  question,  or  it  might  be  the 
deprivation  to  the  world  of  a  rising  young  civil 
engineer,  who  had  no  idea  that  life  was  worth 
living  without  some  sign  from  Miss  Marsh  that 
she  entertained  for  him  somewhat  more  interest 
and  sentiment  than  were  expressed  in  her  com 
munications. 

"  Dorothy,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh  that  evening,  "  I 
observe  a  good  many  letters  from  Morganville, 
apparently  from  the  same  person." 

"  Do  you,  mother?  "  asked  Dorothy  in  great 
surprise. 

"  I  do,  and  I  should  like  to  inquire  who  is  writ 
ing  to  you  so  frequently." 

"  Oh,"  said  Dorothy  lightly,  "  Tom  Darlington 
sends  me  gossipy  letters  about  the  happenings  out 
there." 

"Tom  Darlington?" 


'A  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE          303 

"  Yes,  mother.  You  remember  Tom  Darling 
ton,  of  course?  " 

"  Some  kind  of  a  railroad  employe,  isn't  he  — 
a  fireman  or  a  brakeman  or  something  like  that." 

"  He's  a  civil  engineer  and  he  has  a  great  fu 
ture,"  retorted  Dorothy  indignantly.  Instantly 
she  regretted  what  she  had  said,  for  Mrs.  Marsh 
raised  her  eyebrows,  and  smiled  a  little  cold  smile 
that  warned  Dorothy  that  something  unpleasant 
was  coming. 

"  Indeed!  "  she  said,  and  there  was  a  world 
of  meaning  in  the  word. 

Dorothy  was  silent.  She  felt  herself  blushing 
and  she  was  annoyed  at  her  mother's  tone. 

"  I  trust  you  are  not  so  foolish  as  to  think 
seriously  of  this  young  man,"  Mrs.  Marsh  con 
tinued. 

"Why,  mother!"  Dorothy  protested  warmly. 
"  What  an  idea !  Tom  is  no  more  to  me  than  — 
than  —  well,  than  any  one  else,"  she  concluded 
lamely. 

"  He  must  be  nothing  to  you,  Dorothy.  Up  to 
the  present  I  have  not  spoken  to  you  of  your 
future;  but  the  time  has  come  when  I  must  speak 
plainly.  It  is  your  duty  to  yourself,  to  me  and 
to  your  father  to  ally  yourself  with  one  of  the 
best  families  in  this  city.  Our  future  is  here. 
Your  father  is  to  be  a  senator,  and  he  doubtless 
will  continue  in  the  Senate  until  he  is  called  to 
greater  responsibilities.  In  a  year  or  two  you 
must  marry.  When  you  do,  you  must  carefully 
select  your  husband  from  your  own  rank  in  life, 


304          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

with  a  view  to  your  own  advancement  and  further 
social  progress." 

"  But,  mother,  that  wasn't  the  reason  you  mar 
ried  father!  " 

"  The  cases  are  not  parallel,"  Mrs.  Marsh  re 
plied  stiffly.  "  I  was  a  country  girl  and  had  no 
social  knowledge.  You  are  a  recognised  member 
of  good  society  here  in  Washington.  You  must 
maintain  your  position  or  exalt  it  by  marriage,  and 
not  lower  it  by  a  foolish  alliance." 

Dorothy  had  expected  and  dreaded  this  inter 
view.  Her  mother's  efforts  to  place  her  in  con 
junction  with  the  senator's  son,  young  Wheeldon, 
were  so  apparent  that  she  knew  he  was  the  man 
Mrs.  Marsh  had  chosen  for  her.  She  didn't  want 
to  marry  yet,  and  she  especially  did  not  want  to 
marry  young  Wheeldon. 

"  What  do  you  mean,  mother?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  mean  that  there  are  several  admirable  and 
available  young  men  here,  any  one  of  whom  would 
be  a  suitable  husband  for  you.  I  would  look  with 
favour,  for  instance,  on  an  alliance  between  you 
and  Mr.  Wheeldon,  whose  family  is  one  of  the 
most  exclusive  in  official  society  and  who  is  rich 
and  in  every  way  fitted  to  be  your  husband." 

"  But  I  don't  want  to  marry  Mr.  Wheeldon  and 
he  doesn't  want  to  marry  me." 

Mrs.  Marsh  smiled  her  cold  smile  again. 
"  That  is  a  matter  of  no  importance,"  she  said. 
"  If  you  do  your  part  I  will  do  mine,  and  the  mar 
riage  can  be  arranged." 

Dorothy's  face  paled  and  then  reddened.     Her 


A  SUITABLE  ALLIANCE          305 

heart  beat  wildly.  "  Oh,  mother,  how  can  you, 
how  can  you!  "  she  cried  and  bursting  into  tears 
she  ran  from  the  room. 

That  night  she  talked  to  her  father. 
"  Popsie,"  she  said,  "  mother  insists  on  marrying 
me  off  to  Wilbur  Wheeldon." 

"What  does  he  say  about  it?"  asked  Marsh. 

"  I  don't  suppose  he  knows  it  —  yet." 

"And  what  do  you  think  about  it?" 

"  I  hate  it." 

"  Well,  it  may  be  that  if  the  two  high  contract 
ing  parties  are  in  a  state  of  complete  ignorance  on 
the  one  hand,  and  indignant  protest  on  the  other, 
the  third  high  contracting  party,  your  mother,  can 
be  circumvented." 

"  Oh,"  cried  Dorothy,  throwing  her  arms 
round  his  neck,  "  will  you  tell  mother  not  to  do 
it?" 

"  No,"  replied  Marsh,  smiling,  "  I  shall  not 
promise  to  do  exactly  that,  but  I'll  try  in  other 
ways  to  help  prevent  it.  Only  you  mustn't  tell. 
Promise  now." 

"  I  promise,"  said  Dorothy,  and  she  kissed  him 
again. 

Two  days  later  Tom  Darlington  received  a  let 
ter  from  Miss  Marsh  in  which  he  discerned  some 
slight  evidences  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
writer  in  himself  and  his  career,  and  his  world 
became  rosy  with  hope. 


XXVIII 

A   LEGAL   RETAINER 


I 


was  to  be  a  special  session  of 
the  new  Congress  to  convene  on 
March  fifteenth  to  revise  the  tariff. 
This  meant  that  Marsh,  after  he  fin 
ished  his  congressional  duties  in  the  Congress  that 
ended  on  March  fourth,  would  be  sworn  in  as 
senator  for  the  special  session  and  move  over  to 
the  other  end  of  the  Capitol.  He  was  busy 
on  the  District  of  Columbia  Committee,  on  which 
he  had  moved  up  to  fourth  place  from  the  top 
on  the  majority  side,  and  was  working  hard. 

About  two  weeks  before  the  end  of  the  session 
he  met  his  banker  at  a  dinner.  "  Mr.  Marsh," 
said  the  banker,  "  I  wish  you  would  drop  in  to 
see  me  in  the  morning,  if  you  can  conveniently." 

Marsh  went.  The  banker  received  him  cor 
dially  and  took  him  into  the  private  office.  They 
chatted  for  a  moment  about  the  special  session, 
the  tariff  and  other  legislative  matters,  and  then 
the  banker  said:  "You  are  still  on  the  District 
of  Columbia  Committee,  are  you  not?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  I  wonder  if  you  have  had  occasion  to  look 
into  the  merits  of  those  several  street  extensions 
that  are  projected." 

306 


A  LEGAL  RETAINER  307 

"  I  have,"  replied  Marsh. 

"  You  favour  them,  I  trust?  " 

"  No,"  Marsh  replied,  "  I  do  not.  It  seems 
to  me  these  particular  extensions  are  unneces 
sary  and  merely  proposed  to  benefit  real  estate  in 
this  vicinity  —  a  job,  in  short." 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Marsh,"  protested  the  banker,  "  I 
assure  you  the  extensions  are  demanded  by  the 
growth  of  the  city.  I  had  hoped  you  would 
favour  them." 

"  I  shall  require  more  proof  of  the  necessity 
for  them  before  I  vote  for  them,"  said  Marsh. 

"  Indeed,"  and  the  banker's  face  hardened. 
He  reached  into  a  drawer  in  his  desk,  took  out  a 
paper  and  said,  tapping  with  the  paper  on  the 
edge  of  the  desk  to  emphasise  his  words:  "It 
is  possible  I  can  give  you  that  proof." 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to  consider  it." 

The  banker  handed  him  the  paper.  It  was  a 
single  sheet  containing  a  list  of  names.  It  was 
headed  "  Shareholders  in  the  Atlas  Land  Com 
pany." 

Marsh  felt  the  paper  tremble  a  little  as  he  read 
it.  His  own  name  was  fourth  on  the  list,  and  he 
was  credited  with  owning  one  hundred  shares. 
He  saw  on  the  paper  the  names  of  Paxton  and 
various  other  influential  men  in  the  House  and 
Senate,  saw  those  names  through  a  sort  of  a 
blur. 

"  What  has  this  to  do  with  those  street  exten 
sions?  "  he  asked. 

"  Why,  Mr.  Marsh,"  said  the  banker  suavely, 


3o8  THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

"  it  has  everything  to  do  with  it.  The  lands 
owned  by  the  Atlas  Company  are  to  be  benefited." 

"  Then — "  and  Marsh  gained  control  of  him 
self  by  a  strong  effort — "  of  course  I  cannot  vote 
for  it." 

The  banker  smiled  that  smile  that  only  em 
braced  his  lips.  His  eyes  were  cold  and  hard. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  you  say  that,"  he  said. 
"  I  had  hoped  you  would  see  your  way  clear  to 
vote  for  it.  You  befriended  the  street-car  exten 
sion  into  that  section,  you  recall." 

"  But  the  Atlas  Company  wasn't  interested 
then,  Paxton  told  me." 

"  Not  directly,  perhaps,  but  sufficiently,  I 
imagine,  to  make  that  vote  of  yours  difficult  of 
explanation  if  the  matter  should  become  public." 

"  Are  you  trying  to  threaten  me?  "  Marsh  de 
manded  hotly. 

"  Not  at  all,  my  dear  sir,  not  at  all.  Who  am 
I  that  I  should  try  to  threaten  an  influential  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  a  senator- 
elect?  Not  at  all.  I  merely  desire  to  call  these 
facts  to  your  attention.  By  the  way,  I  took  the 
liberty  of  having  our  bookkeeper  make  up  a  state 
ment  of  your  account  for  you.  You  have  not  sent 
in  your  book  in  some  time.  I  observe  some  heavy 
deposits  now  and  then." 

Marsh  jumped  from  his  chair.  "  What  do  you 
mean?"  he  asked  hoarsely.  "What  do  you 
mean?  " 

"  Nothing."  The  banker  was  calm  and  cour 
teous.  "  I  thought  you  might  like  the  informa- 


X  LEGAL  RETAINER  309 

tion.  We  plan  to  have  the  books  of  our  cus 
tomers  balanced  every  three  months  and  yours  has 
not  been  in  for  a  year.  That  is  all,  I  assure  you." 

Marsh  was  red  with  rage,  but  said  nothing. 
There  didn't  seem  to  be  anything  for  him  to  say. 

"  And,"  continued  the  banker,  "  while  the 
banker's  relation  to  his  client  is  most  confidential 
and  sacred,  at  the  same  time  that  very  relation 
intrusts  him  necessarily  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
such  transactions  and  cheques  as  may  pass  through 
his  bank.  You  appreciate  that,  of  course?" 

"  Certainly." 

"  Well,  then,  Mr.  Marsh,  I  am  informed  as  to 
the  resources  of  your  revenue.  I  do  not  desire 
to  be  harsh  with  you,  but  I  am  informed  also,  as 
you  know,  of  the  great  benefit  that  will  accrue  to 
you  by  these  street  extensions.  I  am  interested 
in  these.  It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  vote  for 
them.  Their  passage  has  been  arranged,  both 
through  the  committee  and  the  Congress.  The 
matter  comes  up  in  committee  to-morrow  morning 
for  final  action.  I  trust  you  may  be  delayed  and 
not  be  able  to  attend  the  committee  meeting. 
That  is  all.  Isn't  the  weather  remarkable  for  this 
time  of  year?  Not  going,  are  you?  Well,  good- 
morning." 

Marsh  walked  out  in  a  daze.  He  took  a  turn 
round  the  White  House  ellipse  to  think  it  out. 
The  banker,  of  course,  knew  where  his  outside 
money  had  been  obtained  and  how.  He  knew 
that  miserable  mistake  of  the  Atlas  Land  Com 
pany.  Marsh  did  not  for  a  moment  think  the 


3io  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

banker  would  expose  him,  for  that  would  mean 
the  banker's  exposure  and  the  exposure  of  others 
high  up  in  Congress;  but  he  felt  he  was  in  a  way 
in  the  power  of  the  banker.  It  would  be  fatal 
if  one  of  the  opposition  newspapers,  for  example, 
should  get  wind  of  his  transactions,  small  as  they 
were.  It  would  ruin  him  as  a  senator.  Anyhow 
it  was  an  affair  of  little  importance.  The  street 
extensions  undoubtedly  were  needed.  Washing 
ton  was  growing  rapidly  and  in  that  direction. 
He  had  been  amazed,  last  time  he  drove  out  that 
way,  to  see  the  rows  and  rows  of  new  houses  that 
were  going  up.  Perhaps  he  had  not  taken  a  broad 
view  of  the  necessity  for  the  extensions.  He 
would  think  it  over  carefully. 

He  thought  it  over  with  such  decided  results 
that  he  didn't  go  to  the  committee  meeting  and  the 
extensions  were  recommended  without  protest. 
Instead  of  going  to  the  meeting  he  went  to  see 
Senator  Paxton. 

"  Howdy,  senator,"  said  Paxton,  as  he  entered 
the  room.  Marsh  thrilled  with  pleasure  at  the 
salutation.  The  title  of  senator  was  yet  so  new 
to  him  that  every  time  he  heard  it  coupled  with 
his  own  name  he  straightened  up  and  threw  out 
his  chest. 

Marsh  jumped  right  into  the  matter  he  had  in 
mind.  "  Say,"  he  said,  "  that  banker  of  ours  took 
a  fall  out  of  me  yesterday." 

"  What  did  he  .do  ?     Call  a  loan  ?  " 

"  No,    but    he    intimated    pretty   plainly   if   I 


A  LEGAL  RETAINER  311 

didn't  do  certain  things  he  might  make  trouble 
for  me." 

"  Oh,  indeed,"  said  Paxton,  looking  much  sur 
prised.  "  Not  really?" 

"  Exactly  that.  He  wanted  me  to  stay  away 
from  the  District  Committee  and  not  oppose  some 
street  extensions." 

'  Well,  where's  the  harm  in  that?  He  merely 
asked  a  favour,  didn't  he?" 

"No,"   Marsh  replied.     "He  demanded  it." 

"  Jim,"  said  Paxton,  whirling  round  in  his  chair, 
"  you've  been  here  long  enough  to  know  that  we're 
trying  unselfishly  to  make  Washington  the  most 
beautiful  city  in  the  world.  And  we're  going  to 
do  it.  Where's  the  harm  if  a  few  of  us,  while 
conferring  these  great  benefits,  confer  a  few  on 
ourselves  as  a  slight  recompense  for  our  labours, 
especially  when  the  improvements  we  advocate  are 
all  in  the  line  of  a  more  liveable  and  a  more  beau 
tiful  city?" 

"  If  it  comes  to  that  I  don't  suppose  there  is 
any  harm,  but  I  didn't  like  the  way  he  did  it." 

"  Oh,  forget  it !  Forget  it !  That  conscience 
of  yours  is  set  on  a  hair-trigger.  There'll  be  a 
dividend  pretty  soon  from  that  Atlas  investment. 
By  the  way,  did  you  do  what  he  asked  you  to?  " 

"  Yes,"  confessed  Marsh. 

''  Well,  then,  why  all  this  fuss?  It's  over  and 
no  harm's  done.  There's  a  man  coming  in  here 
who  wants  to  meet  you." 

Marsh  read  a  paper  for  half  an  hour  and  then 


312  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

a  tall,  pompous  man  came  in.  Senator  Paxton 
introduced  him  as  Mr.  William  R.  Elzey,  of  New 
York,  receiver  for  a  system  of  railroads  in  the 
Southwest.  Mr.  Elzey  was  glad  to  know  Marsh. 
He  had  heard  about  him  and  had  admired  his 
speeches,  not  only  for  their  oratorical  effective 
ness,  but  because  of  the  profound  grasp  of  the  law 
they  showed.  They  discussed  legal  questions, 
and  Mr.  Elzey  proved  to  have  much  familiarity 
with  the  law  as  well  as  with  big  business  affairs. 

After  this  general  conversation  had  continued 
for  a  time  Senator  Paxton  said:  "  Elzey,  I  under 
stand  you  desire  to  retain  Senator  Marsh's  serv 
ices  in  a  purely  legal  way?  " 

"  Yes,"  Elzey  replied,  and  he  began  a  long, 
complicated  explanation  of  how  he  could  use 
Marsh  in  a  legal  capacity  as  one  of  the  law 
yers  for  him  in  the  affairs  of  his  important 
receivership.  He  discussed  the  matter  with 
Marsh  for  an  hour.  Marsh  was  eager.  This 
gave  him  an  opportunity  for  making  good  fees 
at  the  legitimate  practice  of  his  profession.  He 
went  into  the  situation  thoroughly,  concluded 
to  take  hold  of  it,  and  Elzey  gave  him  a  cheque  for 
$10,000  as  a  retainer.  The  arrangement  was 
that  Marsh  was  to  have  this  retainer  and  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  a  month  and  expenses.  Elzey 
thought  there  would  not  be  much  necessity  for 
travelling  until  after  Congress  adjourned,  but  he 
wanted  Marsh  to  represent  him  in  various  capac 
ities,  both  in  Washington  and  in  New  York,  en 
tirely  as  a  lawyer.  He  made  that  very  clear. 


A  LEGAL  RETAINER  313 

Neither  Marsh  nor  the  senator  could  see  any  ob 
jection,  as  there  was  nothing  in  the  receivership 
that  would  come  before  Congress,  and  Marsh  was 
much  elated  when  he  shook  hands  with  Elzey  and 
left  him  to  talk  further  with  Paxton. 

"  Curious  chap  that  man  Marsh,"  said  Paxton 
to  Elzey.  "  He's  a  wonder,  mentally,  so  far  as 
big  questions  go,  but  the  practical  side  of  him  is 
largely  undeveloped.  He  will  be  a  tower  of 
strength  to  us  over  here  when  he  gets  into  the 
Senate,  because  he  has  the  gifts  to  make  him  in 
valuable  as  an  advocate  for  us,  to  get  out  in  front 
and  explain  plausibly  to  the  people  what  we  have 
in  mind.  He  is  one  of  the  most  convincing 
orators  I  ever  heard,  and  he  has  a  reputation  for 
being  upright  that  will  be  a  great  aid  to  us.  He 
could  make  a  lot  of  trouble  if  he  were  inclined 
to  act  on  his  real  impulses,  but  we  have  been  suc 
cessful  thus  far  in  subduing  those  impulses. 
[We've  got  to  have  him.  Dobson  is  getting  old 
and  has  all  the  money  he  needs,  and  he's  talking 
about  retiring.  There  isn't  a  man  in  sight  to  be 
the  organisation  mouthpiece  on  the  Senate  floor 
except  Marsh,  and  that's  why  we  had  you  come 
over  here  and  offer  him  that  retainer.  You  fel 
lows  need  him  as  much  as  we  do." 

"  I  think  he  can  be  made  extremely  useful," 
said  Elzey  pompously. 

"  Surest  thing  you  know,"  Paxton  replied.  "  If 
that  wife  of  his  persists  in  her  social  flight,  and 
we  can  keep  him  full  of  the  idea  that  both  her 
efforts  and  what  we  can  do  for  him  will  land  him 


THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

far  along  In  power  and  reputation  and  wealth, 
it's  easy  as  eating  bread  and  butter.  He  is  greedy 
for  power  and  influence  and  fame.  His  wife  has 
him  buffaloed  into  thinking  her  social  game  helps 
him.  He  needs  money,  and  he  has  been  filled  to 
the  ears  with  the  information  that  the  only  way 
to  get  along  is  to  be  regular  and  play  the  game 
with  the  big  players.  We've  pretty  nearly  landed 
him,  and  he  will  be  a  most  useful  asset  to  our 
crowd." 

Marsh  told  Mrs.  Marsh  with  great  glee  of  his 
big  retainer  and  his  engagement  by  Elzey.  Mrs. 
Marsh  was  delighted.  She  said  she  had  been  cer 
tain  Marsh  could  utilise  his  talents  and  his  legal 
knowledge  if  he  was  of  that  mind. 

A  few  days  later  Marsh  met  Byron.  Congress 
was  ending  in  the  usual  confusion  and  tumult. 
There  were  early  meetings  and  late  sessions  and 
the  jam  of  business  was  terrific.  The  newer  mem 
bers  had  gloomy  forebodings  that  the  session 
would  end  with  a  lot  of  the  big  appropriation 
bills  not  acted  upon;  but  the  old  hands,  who  had 
been  through  this  same  mess  many  times,  pro 
ceeded  calmly,  untangling  things  skilfully  and 
shoving  through  measures  one  after  another,  car 
rying  millions  and  millions  of  dollars,  with  but 
limited  debate  but  with  exact  knowledge  of  what 
they  were  doing  in  each  instance.  It  was  merely 
another  exemplification  of  the  expert  working  of 
the  machine. 

"  Marsh,"  said  Bryon,  "  now  that  you  are  going 


A  LEGAL  RETAINER  315 

over  to  the  Senate  there's  one  thing  I'd  advise 
you  to  do." 

"  What's  that?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  Go  into  caucus  with  yourself  and  determine 
on  your  course  of  action.  Intrinsically  you  are 
all  right.  At  bottom  you  are  sound,  but  this  gang 
will  get  you  —  if  they  haven't  got  you  already  — 
if  you  don't  take  a  brace  and  look  at  things 
squarely." 

''  What  do  you  mean?  " 

"  I  mean  that  you  are  playing  this  game  from 
the  angle  of  the  organisation,  that  you  are  getting 
into  that  frame  of  mind  where  you  think  it  is 
proper  for  the  organisation  to  control  the  people 
instead  of  having  the  people  control  the  organisa 
tion.  You  are  coming  to  think  as  these  robbers 
think,  to  act  with  them,  to  let  them  use  you  instead 
of  standing  up  and  fighting  them.  They're  the 
greatest  bunch  of  grafters  the  world  has  ever 
known  —  grafters  in  a  big  sense,  not  door-mat 
purloiners,  you  understand.  They  utilise  the 
organisation  for  their  own  political  party  and  per 
sonal  ends,  and  they  need  you  to  stand  up  and  tell 
the  people  that  it's  all  right  and  that  all  is  quiet 
and  honest  along  the  Potomac. 

"  I  don't  mean,  Marsh,  that  most  of  the  men  in 
Congress  are  not  honest,  for  they  are.  It  has 
come  to  be  the  fashion  to  laugh  at  Congress,  to 
scoff  at  it,  to  jeer  at  it;  but  you  know  and  I  know, 
from  our  service  here,  that  the  aggregate  wisdom 
of  these  men  is  great  and  that  their  real  motives 


3i6  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

are  patriotic.  They  are  swept  along  by  the  cry 
of  loyalty  to  party,  and  they  have  allowed  a  gang 
of  men  to  control  an  organisation  that  has  been 
falsely  held  up  to  be  the  party  itself  instead  of 
the  creature  of  the  party.  They  have  been  fed 
with  the  idea  that  the  highest  attribute  of  a  legis 
lator,  under  our  party  system  of  government,  is 
to  be  regular,  and  instead  of  being  voters  they 
are  voted. 

"  What  this  gang  you  are  training  with  is  trying 
to  do  is  to  individualise  the  party,  instead  of  keep 
ing  it  as  the  party  of  the  people.  It  isn't  so  hard 
as  you  think.  The  people  are  busy,  and  these  men 
are  apparently  working  for  the  good  of  the  party. 
Having  delegated  their  political  authority,  the 
people  are  looking  out  for  their  own  affairs. 
Thus  by  buying  those  they  have  to  buy  and  by 
cajoling  those  they  can  cajole,  and  by  appealing 
to  the  fetish  of  party  loyalty  and  regularity,  these 
few  men  in  the  Senate  and  the  House  and  their 
associates  throughout  the  country  have  arrogated 
to  themselves  all  the  powers  of  the  party.  They 
are  the  party.  Their  organisation  is  supreme  and 
the  people  merely  register  their  desires.  They 
have  been  a  long  time  building  up  their  machine, 
but  it  is  about  perfected  now  and  they  have 
grabbed  you  as  a  necessary  feature  of  it.  You 
have  great  ability.  You  can  do  much,  if  you  will, 
but  what  you  do,  I  am  afraid,  will  be  done  at  the 
direction  of  these  men  instead  of  your  own  voli 
tion.  If  they  haven't  landed  you,  Marsh,  they 
have  hooked  you,  and  I  know  what  the  bait  was. 


A  LEGAL  RETAINER  317 

Shake  out  the  hook  before  it  is  too  late,  for  as 
sure  as  you  are  standing  there,  Marsh,  this  whole 
affair  will  be  blown  up  one  of  these  days  and  you 
will  all  go  down  in  the  ruins.  The  people  will 
revolt  as  soon  as  they  know  the  facts,  and  you 
can  help  the  few  of  us  who  are  trying  to  tell  those 
facts  to  them,  and  do  good  for  all,  if  you  will, 
instead  of  working  in  with  these  robbers  and 
doing  what  you  think  is  good,  but  what  will  really 
be  harmful  to  yourself." 

Marsh  laughed.  "  You've  got  it  pretty  bad, 
Billy,"  he  said. 

Byron  put  out  his  hand.  "  Pardon  me  for 
being  so  serious,"  he  said,  "  but  I  feel  deeply  on 
these  matters,  and  I  hate  to  see  a  man  of  your 
parts  going  to  hell  in  a  hanging  basket." 


"  ASK   ME   AGAIN  " 

ALTHOUGH  Marsh  laughed  at  Byron's 
warning,  he  knew  there  was  truth  in 
what  he  had  said,  and  he  resolved  to 
be  independent  of  organisation  influ 
ences  in  the  Senate,  where  he  was  secure  for  six 
years,  and  where  he  felt  he  could  become  so  im 
portant  that  he  could  be  re-elected  even  if  the 
organisation   opposed   him.     He   would   rely   on. 
the  people  and  he  would  be  the  people's  friend. 

The  special  session  opened.  There  was  noth 
ing  for  the  Senate  to  do,  for  under  the  Constitu 
tion  all  revenue  bills  must  originate  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  the  tariff  bill  must  be  in 
troduced  and  passed  there  before  the  Senate  could 
take  up  the  matter,  except  in  a  preliminary  way,  in 
the  Finance  Committee.  Marsh,  of  course,  was 
not  a  member  of  the  Finance  Committee.  He 
was  too  new  for  that.  He  had  been  given  sev 
eral  committee  places,  some  good,  and  the  chair 
manship  of  a  small  committee,  in  order  that  he 
might  have  his  perquisites  of  clerk  and  messenger 
and  other  bits  of  pap  the  dignified  Senator  values 
so  highly.  Paxton  was  on  the  Finance  Com 
mittee. 

3'S 


"ASK  ME  AGAIN"  319 

The  new  session  of  Congress  provided  a  sup 
plemental  social  season  and  Mrs.  Marsh  con 
tinued  her  activities.  Her  musical  mornings  had 
been  a  success.  She  was  continually  in  the  social 
columns  of  the  newspapers,  and  Dorothy  was  re 
fusing  a  few  invitations  here  and  there,  for  Mrs. 
Marsh  felt  she  had  arrived  at  that  distinction 
where  she  need  not  go  everywhere  but  could 
choose  what  occasions  her  presence  would  honour. 
Elzey  had  submitted  one  or  two  intricate  legal 
propositions  to  Marsh,  and  he  spent  most  of  his 
time  on  those,  while  waiting  for  the  actual  work 
to  begin  in  the  Senate.  Also  he  familiarised  him 
self  to  some  extent  with  tariff  matters,  especially 
as  they  related  to  his  own  state,  and  had  much 
correspondence  on  the  subject  of  wool,  beet  sugar 
and  other  agricultural  products.  He  was  a  pro 
tectionist,  of  course,  but  felt  that  there  might  ad 
vantageously  be  reductions  in  certain  schedules. 

One  day  he  presented  his  view  to  Senator  Pax- 
ton.  "  Don't  get  that  bug  into  your  head,  Jim," 
Paxton  advised.  "  The  protective  tariff  is  the 
mainstay  of  our  country.  Also,"  and  his  eyes 
twinkled,  "  it  is  the  mainstay  of  yours  truly  and 
many  of  my  associates,  and  of  the  organisation 
that  controls  our  great  and  glorious  party  —  our 
Grand  Old  Party,  as  we  affectionately  refer  to  it 
for  purposes  of  public  consumption.  I  suppose 
there  will  come  a  day  when  there  will  be  a  tariff 
bill  that  is  not  political  but  is  economic  and  scien 
tific,  but  I  hope  not  while  I  am  in  the  Senate. 
That  would  be  a  calamity,  Jim.  If  we  failed  to 


320  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

nurture  and  protect  and  otherwise  conserve  our 
infant  industries,  how  in  blazes  could  our  infant 
industries  nurture  and  protect  and  otherwise  con 
serve  us?  It  will  be  a  sad  day  for  us  if  they  take 
the  tariff  out  of  politics  or  take  politics  out  of  the 
tariff.  However,  I  doubt  if  there  is  any  imme 
diate  danger;  "  and  he  laughed. 

Mr.  Elzey  came  to  town.  "  Senator  Marsh," 
he  asked  in  a  most  dignified  manner,  "  do  you  ever 
take  any  interest  in  financial  matters?  " 

"  In  what  way?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  I  mean  do  you  ever  do  anything  in  the 
Street?" 

"  Occasionally,"  said  Marsh,  wondering  what 
he  had  in  mind. 

"  Well,  if  I  were  you  I  would  buy  a  few  shares 
of  Q.  R.  &  D.  There  is  likely  to  be  a  movement 
in  that  stock  soon." 

Marsh  spoke  to  Rambo  about  it.  "  Who  told 
you?"  asked  Rambo. 

"  A  chap  named  William  R.  Elzey." 

"  Let's  go  to  it!  "  exclaimed  Rambo.  "  He's 
one  of  the  big  men  in  the  Street,  director  in  I  don't 
know  how  many  corporations.  How  did  you 
come  to  know  him?  " 

"  I  am  doing  some  business  for  him,"  said 
Marsh. 

"  You  don't  tell  me,"  said  Rambo  in  evident 
admiration.  "  Well,  you  certainly  are  in  soft  if 
you  have  that  man  on  your  staff." 

They  bought  some  Q.  R.  &  D.  on  joint  account, 
and  made  enough  out  of  it  to  enable  Marsh  to  buy 


"ASK  ME  AGAIN"  321 

Mrs.  Marsh  the  electric  automobile  she  had  been 
Wanting  for  some  time.  Also  Marsh  paid  some 
bills  that  had  been  hanging  over.  Two  or  three 
times  after  that  Elzey  told  Marsh  when  to  buy 
stocks,  and  Marsh  found  Elzey  always  knew 
what  he  was  talking  about.  Moreover,  Elzey 
told  Marsh  when  to  sell  each  time,  so  he  lost  noth 
ing  by  holding  on.  Marsh  came  to  have  a  good 
standing  in  the  offices  of  the  principal  brokers  in 
the  city  and  carried  an  account  there.  He  put  in 
his  orders  by  telephone. 

"  Jim,"  said  Senator  Paxton  to  Marsh  about 
two  weeks  before  the  tariff  bill  reached  the  Sen 
ate,  "  brush  up  on  steel  and  lumber  and  wool  and 
the  chemical  schedule." 

"Why?"  asked  Marsh. 

"  Oh,  we're  going  to  have  some  trouble  with 
these  low-tariff  people  and  we'll  need  some 
speeches  from  you  for  public  consumption.  Great 
opportunity  for  you,  my  boy!  Great  oppor 
tunity!  " 

Marsh  studied  steel  and  lumber  and  wool  and 
the  chemical  schedule.  He  had  a  quick  mind, 
knew  the  rudiments  of  the  tariff,  and  he  felt  he 
would  be  able  to  cope  with  any  opposition  senator, 
and  show  to  the  public  that  the  wages  of  our  work- 
ingmen  and  the  prosperity  of  our  people,  as  well 
as  the  very  lives  of  these  industries  themselves, 
depended  on  the  retention  of  a  proper  measure  of 
protection  on  them.  Paxton  thought  the  old 
rates  or  rates  a  shade  higher  would  suffice. 

When  the  bill  reached  the  Senate  there  was  long 


322  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

debate.  Marsh  was  put  to  the  front  and  acquitted 
himself  creditably.  One  day  Elzey  came  to  see 
him. 

"  Senator  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  I  trust  you  have 
given  consideration  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  a 
higher  tariff  on  steel  products." 

"Higher?"  asked  Marsh. 

"  Yes.  The  industry  must  perish  unless  we  get 
a  higher  measure  of  protection  against  foreign 
competition." 

"  But,"  said  Marsh,  "  the  Steel  Trust  sells  steel 
rails  in  England,  delivered,  for  several  dollars  less 
a  ton  than  it  sells  steel  rails  at  home." 

"  Oh,"  said  Elzey,  waving  his  hand,  "  that  is 
an  argument  of  our  enemies.  It  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  case.  I  am  thinking  of  the  American 
workingman  and  the  American  consumer,  not  of 
the  foreign  consumer.  I  shall  hope  to  hear  a 
speech  from  you  on  the  subject  advocating  a  higher 
duty,  or  rather  sustaining  the  action  in  that  direc 
tion  I  understand  the  Finance  Committee  will  pro 
pose." 

Marsh  wondered  why  Elzey  was  so  solicitous 
about  steel;  and  recalled  that  he  was  a  consumer 
of  steel  rails  in  his  capacity  as  receiver  operating 
the  bankrupt  railroad  for  which  Marsh  was  an 
attorney.  He  looked  in  the  Directory  of  Direc 
tors,  and  discovered  that  William  R.  Elzey  was  a 
director  in  twenty-seven  corporations,  fifteen  of 
them  corporations  that  had  direct  tariff  interests, 
and  were  infant  industries  crying  at  the  door  of 


"ASK  ME  AGAIN"  323 

the  Congress  for  protection  from  the  cruel  attacks 
of  foreign  competition  and  of  foreign  labour. 

There  was  a  long-drawn  fight  in  the  Senate  in 
which  Marsh  was  used  skilfully.  The  organisa 
tion  got  what  it  wanted,  except  in  such  cases  as  it 
compromised  in  the  conference  where  the  bill 
went  after  it  had  passed  the  Senate  in  order  that 
the  difference  between  the  Senate  and  the  House 
might  be  composed.  These  compromises  had 
been  decided  upon  before  the  bill  w"as  introduced 
at  all  and  the  duties  on  the  articles  compromised 
were  fixed  as  they  had  been  fixed  merely  for  trad 
ing  purposes,  and  in  order  that  the  Senate  con 
ferees  might  give  in  to  the  House  on  points  the 
Senate  leaders  long  ago  decided  to  give  in  on,  and 
thus  protect  the  points  they  deemed  vital  to  their 
scheme  of  profitable  protection  —  profitable  to 
themselves.  Marsh's  speech  on  steel  was  highly 
complimented  by  Elzey,  who  expressed  his  great 
gratification  and  told  Marsh  of  another  good  thing 
in  Wall  Street. 

Congress  adjourned  early  in  August.  Mrs. 
Marsh  and  Dorothy  had  returned  to  Morganville 
early  in  June.  Tom  Darlington  renewed  his  at 
tentions  to  Dorothy,  and  was  one  day  smiled  upon, 
when  he  was  preposterously  happy,  and  the  next 
day  treated  with  cool  indifference,  when  he  was 
preposterously  depressed.  He  was  a  mercurial 
young  man,  was  Mr.  Darlington,  but  he  was  tre 
mendously  in  love  with  Dorothy.  Besides,  he  had 
had  a  raise  in  salary,  and  was  sure  he  was  getting 


324  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

enough  to  marry  on,  for,  as  he  had  often  heard, 
two  can  live  as  cheaply  as  one. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  too  clever  to  oppose  Darling 
ton  openly.  She  knew  the  usual  result  of  paren 
tal  opposition  in  such  cases,  but  she  had  invited 
some  young  people,  including  Wheeldon,  to  an 
elaborate  camping  party  in  the  mountains,  which 
she  was  to  chaperon,  and  she  had  hopes  that  she 
might  engineer  a  proposal.  Tom  Darlington  was 
not  invited. 

Marsh  went  to  Morganville  and  opened  his 
law  office.  He  was  tired,  for  the  weather  in 
Washington  had  been  atrociously  hot,  but  he  had 
a  few  important  matters  to  whip  into  shape  for 
Elzey.  He  was  in  a  comfortable  frame  of  mind, 
for  he  had  considerable  money  ahead  and  all  his 
bills  were  paid.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  much  pleased 
at  his  improved  financial  standing. 

The  camping  party  was  a  social  success.  Most 
of  those  invited  from  Washington  came  out,  in 
cluding  Wheeldon,  who  needed  a  change  of  air. 
Matrimonially,  however,  the  party  did  not  amount 
to  much.  Mrs.  Marsh  did  her  best  to  pair  Dor 
othy  off  with  Wheeldon  on  every  excursion  of 
exploration,  every  shooting  trip,  every  horseback 
ride;  and  she  manoeuvred  to  have  her  at  his  side 
each  night  when  the  young  people  sat  around  the 
romantic  campfire.  She  watched  the  two  care 
fully,  but  much  to  her  chagrin  could  discover  no 
signs  of  affection,  or  of  anything  more  than 
a  good,  live  companionship.  She  resolved  to 
make  sterner  efforts  next  winter  in  Washington, 


11  ASK  ME  AGAIN  "  325 

and  contrived  to  cut  the  party  short  by  a  week  on 
account  of  illness,  which  she  regretted,  but  which 
of  course  could  not  be  helped. 

;'  I  could  see  no  sense  of  keeping  up  the  ex 
pense,  inasmuch  as  neither  Dorothy  nor  that  stupid 
young  Wheeldon  would  fall  in  love,"  she  said  to 
Marsh  when  she  returned. 

"Fall  in  love?"  repeated  Marsh.  "Surely 
you  didn't  think  you  could  force  a  love  match  out 
of  it." 

"  You  can  never  tell,"  she  replied.  "  Some 
times  romance  crops  out  in  unexpected  places. 
But  next  winter  it  shall  be  brought  about." 

"  P^or  Heaven's  sake,  Molly,"  protested  Marsh, 
"  give  Dorothy  a  chance.  She  doesn't  want  to 
marry  that  young  squirt." 

"  She  doesn't  know  what  she  does  want,  nor  do 
you,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh.  "  But  I  know  what  is 
best  for  her  and  for  us." 

Tom  Darlington  had  wandered  about  Morgan- 
ville  during  the  camping  party  like  a  lost  soul. 
Life  had  no  joy  for  him,  for  he  was  sure  Dorothy 
would  come  back  engaged  to  somebody.  He 
didn't  know  which  one  of  the  young  men  it  would 
be,  and  he  had  visions  of  all  of  them  proposing 
to  her  in  relays,  so  obsessed  was  he  of  her  charms. 
One  moment  he  was  certain  one  of  them  would 
win  her,  the  next  he  assured  himself  that  she 
would  repulse  them  all.  He  brooded  over  the 
situation  until  his  brain  refused  to  work,  and  he 
took  long,  lonely  rides  in  his  motorboat,  relieving 


326  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

his  feelings  by  driving  that  inoffensive  structure 
to  the  full  limit  of  its  speed. 

As  a  return  for  the  camping  entertainment, 
which  had  proved  a  very  enjoyable  outing,  the 
girls  in  the  party  invited  Dorothy  to  come  east  in 
the  latter  part  of  August  and  join  a  houseparty  at 
Watch  Hill.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  delighted,  because 
young  Wheeldon  was  to  be  one  of  the  party. 
When  he  learned  of  these  plans  Tom  Darlington 
contemplated  suicide  and  other  rash  things,  but 
finally  compromised  on  asking  Dorothy  to  take  a 
ride  with  him  in  his  motorboat. 

Dorothy  did  not  tell  her  mother  of  this  invita 
tion,  which  she  had  accepted  with  alacrity  much  to 
Tom's  surprise.  Tom  proved  himself  a  moody 
and  distraught  companion.  He  talked  little  and 
tinkered  much  with  his  engine. 

"  You  are  not  very  amiable,"  pouted  Dorothy. 

"  Who  could  be  amiable  with  you  running 
round  after  that  young  fool  of  a  Wheeldon?" 
inquired  Tom  sulkily. 

"  Why,  Tom  Darlington,  that's  a  story.  I 
haven't  been  running  round  after  Mr.  Wheeldon. 
We're  just  good  friends,  that's  all." 

"Looks  like  it,  doesn't  it?"  exclaimed  Tom; 
"  with  you  going  camping  with  him,  and  now  go 
ing  off  to  some  party  in  Rhode  Island  where  he 
will  be  constantly  with  you." 

"  I  couldn't  help  going  camping  with  him  and 
you  know  it,"  protested  Dorothy.  "  Mamma 
fixed  that  up.  And  why  shouldn't  I  go  down 
East  and  have  some  fun,  I  should  like  to  know?  " 


"  ASK  ME  AGAIN  "  327 

"  Why  not?  "  inquired  Tom  with  elaborate  sar 
casm.  "  Of  course  I  don't  count.  And  why 
should  I  when  there's  a  millionaire's  son  round?  " 

"  Don't  talk  that  way,  Tom,"  pleaded  Dor 
othy,  "  you  know  it  isn't  so." 

"  How  do  I  know  it  isn't  so?  "  he  asked,  seeing 
his  advantage  and  pressing  it.  "  What  encour 
agement  have  you  ever  given  me,  I'd  like  to 
know?" 

Dorothy  did  not  give  him  any  answer  for  some 
moments,  then  looking  up  at  him  shyly,  with  eyes 
that  smiled  into  his,  she  put  her  little  hand  into  his 
big  grimy  one.  "  Do  you  want  to  marry  me, 
Tom?  "  she  asked. 

"Do  I  want  to  marry  you?"  shouted  Tom. 
"  Do  I  want  to  marry  you?  Why,  Dorothy,  I've 
asked  you  a  hundred  times." 

"  Well,"  she  laughed,  blushing  and  moving  off 
a  little,  "  why  not  ask  me  again?  " 

In  one  bound  Tom  was  on  his  knees  besides  her, 
both  her  hands  crushed  in  his,  his  honest  eyes 
pleading  up  at  her.  "Will  you?"  he  said. 
"Will  you,  sweetheart?  Oh,  I  love  you,  Dor 
othy.  I  love  you  1  I  love  you  1  " 

And  then,  because  he  read  her  answer  in  her 
eyes,  he  kissed  her. 

Fifteen  minutes  later  the  boat  ran  up  against 
the  bank  and  grounded  there.  But  the  young 
people  in  the  stern  sat  on  undisturbed. 


XXX 

THE   WEDDING 

DOROTHY  was  the  first  to  realise  that 
it  was  growing  late.  For  the  next 
,  half  hour  Tom  struggled  in  mud  and 
;  ,  slime,  his  shoes  and  stockings  off  and 
his  trousers  rolled  up  to  his  knees,  to  get  the  boat's 
nose  off  the  shore.  She  had  bumped  on  firmly, 
although  the  engine  had  been  at  low  speed 
and  the  boat  going  slowly  when  she  ran  ashore, 
and  for  some  time  Tom  shoved  and  pulled  with 
no  result.  Dorothy  watched  his  struggles  with 
concern  at  times  and  laughing  unconcern  at  other 
times.  Finally  the  boat  was  afloat  again,  and 
Tom  headed  for  home  at  top  speed,  for  it  was 
getting  late. 

On  the  way  they  planned  their  future.  Their 
engagement,  they  decided,  should  be  kept  secret 
until  Dorothy  came  of  age,  and  then  they  would 
be  married  whether  Mrs.  Marsh  consented  or  not. 
Dorothy  saw  Tom  twice  more  before  she  left  for 
Watch  Hill  and  promised  faithfully  to  write  to 
him  every  day. 

"Write  something,"  pleaded  Tom;  "even  if 
it's  just  '  I  love  you,'  it  will  help." 

But  Dorothy,  who  liked  to  write,  did  better 
328 


THE  WEDDING  329 

than  that.  She  sent  Tom  long  letters,  full  of  com 
ment  on  the  fashionable  affairs  she  attended  and 
the  fashionable  folk  she  saw,  but  always  there  was 
a  last  paragraph  that  Tom  read  first;  in  which  she 
told  him  sweetly  and  sincerely  that  she  loved  him. 
And  young  Darlington  spent  all  his  spare  time 
writing  to  Dorothy.  He  threw  aside  the  news 
and  gossip  of  Morganville  as  unworthy  of  his  at 
tention,  and  devoted  himself  to  impressing  on  her 
the  depth  and  enduring  qualities  of  his  love.  He 
used  up  every  simile  for  eternity  and  durability, 
and  every  word  of  endearment  that  he  could  think 
of,  and  ransacked  love  stories  for  new  terms  in 
which  to  express  his  adoration.  One  day  Dorothy 
was  astonished  to  receive  a  transcription  of  the 
love  letter  in  Marion  Crawford's  Dr.  Claudius, 
modified  to  suit  Morganville  and  Darlington  con 
ditions,  but  breathing  all  the  passion  of  that  re 
markable  epistle.  Tom  was  putting  his  whole 
soul  into  his  writing,  as  well  as  the  souls  of  other 
writers,  and  Dorothy  thought  his  letters  wonder 
ful.  She  decided  that  when  they  were  married 
he  must  try  to  write  a  novel. 

Young  Wheeldon  was  at  the  Watch  Hill  house- 
party,  but  quite  unconscious  of  Mrs.  Marsh's  de 
signs  on  him.  He  took  Dorothy  as  his  partner 
when  it  was  his  turn,  and  was  polite  and  affable, 
but  nothing  more.  Dorothy  went  with  one  young 
man  and  another  and  had  a  good  time.  She 
was  in  Morganville  for  a  few  weeks  before  she 
and  her  mother  went  to  Washington  to  open  the 
house,  and  spent  most  of  her  time  devising  ways 


330  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

and  means  to  see  Tom,  which  was  becoming  more 
and  more  difficult.  Mrs.  Marsh  had  suspicions 
concerning  him  and  she  voiced  them  once  or  twice, 
but  Dorothy  fibbed  prettily,  and  did  her  best  to 
put  her  mother's  mind  at  rest.  She  did  not  quite 
succeed,  however,  and  Mrs.  Marsh  left  for  Wash 
ington  determined  to  do  her  utmost  to  push  the 
Wheeldon  alliance. 

The  session  passed  quickly  and  rather  quietly. 
Mrs.  Marsh  gave  several  distinguished  entertain 
ments,  and  succeeded  in  pruning  a  few  more  unde 
sirables  from  her  list  and  adding  a  few  more 
desirables.  Marsh  made  two  great  speeches  up 
holding  organisation  contentions,  and  was  a  most 
conspicuous  senator  despite  his  short  service. 
Ordinarily  a  new  senator  is  not  active  or  consid 
ered  of  much  importance  for  a  year  or  two  after 
his  advent  in  that  dignified  upper  house,  and 
usually  the  older  senators  resent  it  if  he  is;  but  it 
was  different  in  the  case  of  Marsh  and  had  been 
from  the  start.  The  organisation  had  to  have 
Marsh,  for  they  needed  his  talents  as  an  advocate, 
the  old  wheel-horse  Dodson,  who  had  been  put 
up  for  the  work  Marsh  was  doing  for  ten  or  fif 
teen  years,  having  retired.  So  Marsh,  instead  of 
remaining  in  obscurity  for  his  year  or  two,  came  to 
the  front  at  once,  thereby  gaining  much  newspaper 
acclaim  as  a  rising  young  statesman  who  had  risen 
through  sheer  ability  as  soon  as  he  had  an  op 
portunity. 

Marsh  realised  perfectly  well  that  he  would 
have  been  one  of  the  rank  and  file  for  two  or  three 


THE  WEDDING  331 

sessions  at  least  without  organisation  support, 
albeit  he  might  have  forced  himself  to  the  front 
on  independent  lines,  for  every  senator  can  do 
exactly  what  he  pleases  in  that  regard.  How 
ever,  he  liked  the  comment.  It  pleased  him  to 
hear  some  one  say:  "  There  goes  Senator  Marsh, 
the  great  orator,"  as  he  passed  a  group  of  tourists. 
And  he  took  his  orders  and  played  his  part  and 
reaped  his  rewards.  He  was  well  in  the  con 
fidence  of  the  leaders.  The  Senate  oligarchy, 
headed  by  one  great,  powerful,  masterful  man, 
had  five  other  members.  Next  to  these  came  the 
men  like  Marsh,  who  were  of  but  not  exactly  in 
that  governing  board,  and  after  these  the  senators 
who  voted  as  they  were  told  and  demanded  their 
share  of  whatever  was  going. 

Marsh  had  supreme  faith  in  his  abilities,  and  in 
the  place  he  could  command  for  himself,  and 
looked  forward  to  being  the  real  leader,  or,  if  not 
that,  at  least  to  having  a  place  in  the  innermost 
circle.  Elzey  was  liberal  with  market  informa 
tion.  The  Atlas  Land  Company  paid  a  good  divi 
dend.  Paxton  engineered  one  or  two  other 
schemes  and  Marsh  made  money,  and  began  the 
recess  with  forty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars  clear. 
He  wanted  to  be  rich.  He  wanted  to  be  inde 
pendent.  He  tried  to  argue  himself  into  the  feel 
ing  that  when  he  had  enough  money  he  could 
be  Independent,  but  he  knew  better,  for  every 
dollar  he  made  was  an  added  link  in  the  chain 
that  bound  him  to  the  leaders  who  were  using  him 
for  their  own  purposes. 


332  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

Mrs.  Marsh  pursued  Wheeldon  assiduously. 
She  set  snares  of  all  sorts  for  him,  but  that  wary 
young  man  was  not  to  be  caught,  nor  did  Dorothy 
help  her  mother  in  the  slightest  degree.  She  was 
polite  to  Wheeldon,  just  as  she  was  polite  to  all 
other  amiable  young  men,  and  every  day  she  wrote 
at  least  one  letter  to  Tom  Darlington. 

Late  that  summer  Mrs.  Marsh  had  her  suspi 
cions  concerning  Tom  Darlington  confirmed.  Be 
ing  a  wise  and  clever  woman,  she  said  nothing, 
for  she  knew  that  if  she  openly  opposed  the  match 
the  probabilities  were  that  Dorothy  and  Tom 
would  run  away  and  get  married,  and  that  was  the 
last  thing  she  wanted.  She  waited  until  she  re 
turned  to  Washington  in  the  fall,  when  she 
mapped  out  a  new  line  of  campaign.  She  would 
drop  Wheeldon,  she  decided,  and  centre  her  ef 
forts  on  a  young  Englishman  named  Vickers,  of 
good  family  and  with  money,  who  was  spending 
the  winter  in  Washington  and  had  the  advantage 
of  Embassy  introductions.  The  Englishman  was 
slow  of  wit,  and  he  was  amazed  at  the  attentions 
showered  upon  him  by  Mrs.  Marsh,  who  exerted 
herself  to  be  most  attractive  whenever  he  was  in 
her  company.  Dorothy  for  her  part  paid  scant 
attention  to  him  or  to  her  mother's  change  of 
tactics.  Her  mind  was  full  of  many  things  those 
days,  things  that  had  to  do  with  an  approaching 
birthday  and  a  piece  of  news  that  would  soon  be 
made  public. 

One  night,  at  a  dinner  for  the  young  people 
given  by  Mrs.  Marsh  in  honour  of  two  or  three 


THE  WEDDING  333 

of  the  most  fashionable  buds  of  that  season,  the 
young  Englishman,  who  had  been  manoeuvred  into 
almost  exclusive  company  with  Dorothy  by  the  ex 
tremely  capable  Mrs.  Marsh,  revolted  and  went 
home  as  soon  as  he  could  with  propriety.  Doro 
thy  had  no  part  in  this,  but  Mrs.  Marsh  thought 
she  had. 

"  Dorothy,,"  she  said  that  night  when  the  guests 
had  left,  "  I  consider  your  conduct  this  evening 
quite  inexcusable." 

"What  do  you  mean,  mother?"  asked  Doro 
thy,  amazed. 

"  I  mean  that  you  are  defying  my  expressed 
wishes  by  snubbing  that  poor  Mr.  Vickers  to 
night.  He  was  so  uncomfortable  that  he  left  be 
fore  any  of  the  others." 

"  What  a  calamity!  "  murmured  Dorothy. 

11  Dorothy,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh  coldly,  "  I  can 
not  understand  your  attitude  in  this  matter.  You 
know  it  is  your  duty  to  marry  a  man  who  can  offer 
you  both  position  and  wealth,  not  only  for  your 
own  sake,  but  for  your  father's  and  mine  as  well. 
I  have  spent  much  time  and  effort  in  having  you 
meet  desirable  young  men  and  giving  you  an  op 
portunity  to  see  something  of  them,  and  you  have 
done  absolutely  nothing  to  help  me."  Then, 
overcome  apparently  at  the  thought  of  her  daugh 
ter's  ingratitude,  Mrs.  Marsh  indulged  in  a  few 
tears. 

Dorothy  steeled  herself  for  the  encounter. 
She  realised  that  the  time  had  come  to  have  things 
out  with  her  mother. 


334  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  But,  mother,"  she  explained,  "  I  do  not  want 
to  marry  Mr.  Vickers  any  more  than  I  wanted  to 
marry  Mr.  Wheeldon,  and  neither  Mr.  Vickers 
nor  Mr.  Wheeldon  has  the  slightest  desire  to 
marry  me.  And  besides  —  mother,  dear,  I  am 
engaged  already."  Her  heart  was  beating  furi 
ously  as  she  spoke,  but  she  tried  very  hard  to 
appear  calm. 

For  a  moment  Mrs.  Marsh  was  too  dumb 
founded  to  speak.  Then: 

"  You  are  engaged?  "  she  repeated  blankly,  her 
voice  trailing  off  to  a  wail.  "  To  whom?  " 

"  Tom  Darlington." 

Mrs.  Marsh  once  more  resorted  to  tears,  but 
from  behind  the  handkerchief  that  she  pressed 
to  her  face  she  eyed  Dorothy  narrowly  to  see  how 
much  in  earnest  she  was.  That  young  woman  sat 
straight  in  her  chair,  looking  proud,  defiant  and 
very  indignant. 

''  There's  no  use  making  a  scene,  mother,"  she 
announced.  "  I  love  him  and  I'm  going  to  marry 
him,  whether  you  like  it  or  not."  That  ended  the 
interview. 

When  he  got  home  that  night  Marsh  found  his 
wife  in  her  room,  sobbing  nervously,  her  maid 
bathing  her  temples  with  cologne.  He  knew 
something  had  happened,  but  couldn't  imagine 
what  it  was,  and  after  some  tender  sympathy  and 
a  few  discreet  and  tactful  assurances  of  his  love 
and  support,  went  to  his  own  room  to  await  the 
developments  of  the  morning. 

Next  morning  Mrs.  Marsh  was  pale  but  calm. 


THE  WEDDING  335 

She  had  her  breakfast  in  her  room,  as  was  her 
custom,  and  sent  her  maid  to  ask  Marsh  if  he 
would  come  to  her  at  ten  o'clock.  She  was  re 
clining  in  a  big  chair  in  most  becoming  negligee 
when  Marsh  came  in. 

"  What  is  it,  dear?  "  he  asked  tenderly,  for  he 
saw  at  once  that  something  was  really  on  her 
mind. 

"  Oh,  James,"  she  said,  on  the  verge  of  tears 
again,  "  Dorothy  is  engaged!  " 

"Good!"  exclaimed  Marsh.  "I'm  glad  of 
it!  Who  is  the  lucky  chap?  " 

Mrs.  Marsh  changed  immediately  into  the  so 
cially  ambitious  woman. 

"  I  regret  your  attitude,"  she  said  icily.  "  I 
had  great  plans  for  Dorothy,  great  ambitions. 
I  sought  to  make  her  one  of  the  social  leaders  of 
Washington.  I  desired  her  to  take  her  proper 
place  in  exclusive  circles,  and  now  she  tells  me  she 
intends  to  marry  a  common  railroad  employe  of 
no  family  and  no  wealth." 

"  Tom  Darlington?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  Yes." 

"  But,  Molly,  Tom  Darlington  is  from  one  of 
the  best  families  in  New  England,  although  he 
was  born  in  the  West,  and  he  will  have  plenty  of 
money  some  day.  Besides,  he's  an  honest,  manly 
young  fellow  and  he  is  a  comer  in  the  railroad 
world." 

Mrs.  Marsh  listened  intently.  "  You  don't 
mean  to  say  he  is  of  the  Darlington  family  of 
Massachusetts?  "  she  asked. 


336  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  David  Darlington  is  his  grandfather." 

"  And  that  family  has  money?  " 

"  No  end  of  it." 

Mrs.  Marsh  sighed.  "  Well,"  she  said,  "  per. 
haps  it  isn't  so  bad  as  I  feared.  Leave  me  now, 
James,  I  must  think  things  out." 

Marsh  kissed  her  and  went  out.  He  found 
Dorothy  downstairs,  pale  and  anxious. 

"  Oh,  popsie,"  she  said,  "  have  you  seen — " 

"  I  have,"  he  answered,  "  and  cheer  up,  it  will 
all  come  out  right !  " 

'What  did  you  tell  her?" 

"  I  told  her  that  young  man  of  yours  isn't  a 
half  bad  chap,  and  a  lot  of  other  things.  You  go 
to  her  later  in  the  day  and  cuddle  her  a  little,  and 
you'll  find  she'll  not  only  consent,  but  will  give 
you  a  wedding  that  will  make  the  eyes  of  these 
other  girls  pop  right  out  on  their  cheeks." 

It  was  three  o'clock  that  afternoon  before  Mrs. 
Marsh  and  Dorothy  had  their  meeting.  In  the 
meantime  Mrs.  Marsh  had  had  her  hair  dressed, 
her  manicure  and  her  masseuse  had  been  in,  and 
she  was  ready  for  her  day.  She  sent  for  Doro 
thy,  who  had  been  wandering  about  the  house  and 
had  written  three  letters  to  Tom,  telling  him  in  the 
first  one  that  possibly  she  would  telegraph  him  to 
come  and  get  her;  in  the  next  begging  him  to  dis 
miss  any  such  preposterous  idea  from  his  mind, 
and  in  the  third  asking  him  on  what  train  he  would 
arrive. 

The  interview  went  off  much  better  than  Doro 
thy  had  dared  to  hope.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  gentle 


THE  WEDDING  337 

and  considerate,  and  after  half  an  hour's  talk  con 
sented  to  the  match.  Whereupon  Dorothy  sent 
the  butler  scurrying  to  the  telegraph  office  with  a 
telegram  to  Tom,  which  read: 

Why  don't  you  hurry?     Love.     DOROTHY. 

This  message  threw  young  Darlington  into 
ecstasies  of  delight  and  paroxysms  of  woe  simul 
taneously,  for  he  fancied  all  manner  of  things, 
from  a  demand  on  Dorothy's  part  for  an  elope 
ment,  to  a  plot  by  Mrs.  Marsh  to  marry  her 
daughter  by  force  to  one  of  her  social  favourites. 
He  took  the  first  train  to  Washington  and  Dorothy 
met  him  at  the  station.  Mrs.  Marsh  was  cordial 
in  a  reserved  manner,  and  questioned  him  at 
length  about  his  family  connections  and  financial 
expectations,  and  in  due  course  gave  an  elaborate 
party  for  Dorothy  at  which  her  engagement  was 
announced. 

Mrs.  Marsh  prepared  the  press  notices  of  the 
party  that  appeared  in  the  society  columns.  She 
gave  a  detailed  list  of  those  present,  spoke  of  the 
many  flowers  and  engagement  presents  received, 
and  conferred  on  the  world  this  information  con 
cerning  Mr.  Thomas  Darlington,  the  prospective 
groom:  "Mr.  Thomas  Darlington,  who  is  to 
marry  Miss  Marsh,  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
David  Darlingtons  of  Massachusetts,  an  old  and 
wealthy  family.  Mr.  Darlington  is  by  profession 
a  civil  engineer,  and  at  present  holds  a  responsible 
position  with  the  R.  R.  &  T.  Railroad.  He  has 


338  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

a  wide  reputation  among  railroad  officials  as  one 
of  the  leaders  in  his  profession  and  undoubtedly 
has  a  brilliant  career  before  him."  Tom  Darling 
ton  whistled  when  he  read  that,  but  Dorothy  put 
her  arms  round  his  neck  and  whispered:  "  Why 
not?" 

The  wedding  was  noteworthy  even  for  Wash 
ington  weddings.  The  president  and  his  wife 
went  to  the  church  ceremony  and  sent  a  big 
bouquet  of  flowers  from  the  White  House  con 
servatories  to  the  bride.  The  president's  daugh 
ter  was  at  the  breakfast  reception,  as  was  nearly 
all  of  Washington's  best  official,  diplomatic, 
army,  navy  and  residential  society.  The  papers 
gave  half  a  column  to  the  affair,  with  pictures 
of  the  bride  and  groom,  and  Mrs.  Marsh,  al 
though  she  could  not  help  regretting  that  the 
groom  was  not  Wheeldon  or  Vickers  or  perhaps 
an  officer  in  the  army  or  navy,  was  reasonably 
content.  If  there  had  remained  any  doubt  in  the 
mind  of  any  person  as  to  her  social  status,  the  list 
of  guests  at  the  church,  the  breakfast  and  the  re 
ception  must  have  convinced  the  sceptical  that  she 
had  arrived. 

When  Marsh  was  looking  over  her  lists  of 
guests  he  saw  the  name  of  the  former  Cabinet 
woman  who  had  snubbed  Mrs.  Marsh  in  her  first 
season.  This  woman  had  left  Washington  when 
her  husband  retired  from  office,  but  was  spending 
the  winter  there. 

"  Goodness,  Molly,"  said  Marsh,  "  you  are  not 
going  to  ask  that  woman,  are  you?  She's  the  one 


THE  WEDDING  339 

who  snubbed  you  back  in  the  old  Bruxton  Hotel 
days." 

"  Certainly  I  shall  invite  her,"  answered  Mrs. 
Marsh.  "  She  is  very  important  socially,  and  I 
don't  intend  any  one  to  remember  I  ever  had  any 
Bruxton  Hotel  days." 


XXXI 

A   VISION    OF    POWER 


w  ~"^HE  next  three  years  passed  unevent 
fully.  The  political  firm  of  Paxton  and 
Marsh  maintained  its  supremacy  in  the 
«^»  state,  Paxton  was  re-elected  for  his 
third  term,  and  Marsh  grew  in  reputation  through 
out  the  country  as  a  great  orator.  There  had  been 
mention  of  him  as  his-  party's  candidate  for  presi 
dent.  Marsh  was  rapidly  becoming  invaluable  to 
the  Senate  oligarchy  and  he  reaped  a  big  reward. 
At  the  suggestion  of  Elzey  he  accepted  a  large 
retainer  from  special  interests  for  the  purpose 
of  defeating  legislation.  Elzey  had  been  dis 
charged  as  receiver  of  the  railroad  and  Marsh's 
fee  terminated,  but  he  had  been  given,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  Paxton  and  some  other  friends  in  the 
Senate,  a  considerable  sum  by  a  combination  of 
railroads  for  the  purpose  of  holding  up  proposed 
legislation  to  compel  the  railroad  to  put  on  steel 
mail-cars  instead  of  the  flimsy  wooden  ones  they 
were  running,  and  the  public  was  behind  this  bill, 
for  the  slaughter  of  mail  clerks  in  wrecks  is  ap 
palling.  Marsh  held  up  this  legislation  for  sev 
eral  years.  His  activities  extended  in  various 
directions.  At  first  Paxton  made  no  suggestion 

340 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  341 

of  division,  but  one  day  he  said  he  thought  that 
inasmuch  as  he  was  the  business  producer  and 
Marsh  the  practicing  lawyer  in  the  combination,  he 
deserved  half  the  spoils.  Marsh  readily  agreed 
to  this.  He  was  making  money  fast  and  he  knew 
his  obligations  to  Paxton. 

Tom  Darlington  had  been  made  division  en 
gineer,  and  he  and  Dorothy  had  moved  to  the 
city  fifty  miles  from  Morganville,  which  was  the 
division  headquarters.  They  had  a  baby  boy,  the 
idol  of  Marsh,  who,  much  to  her  husband's  dis 
gust,  insisted  that  Dorothy  spend  much  of  her 
time  in  Washington,  so  that  he  might  be  near  the 
baby.  Mrs.  Marsh  continued  on  her  social  way. 
She  was  one  of  the  leaders  and  she  was  most  ex 
clusive.  She  had  none  but  the  most  fashionable 
people  at  her  numerous  entertainments,  and  her 
dinners  were  celebrated  throughout  Washington, 
not  only  for  the  extremely  smart  character  of  the 
guests,  but  for  the  excellence  of  the  food  and 
wines.  Furthermore,  she  had  arrived  at  that 
stage  of  eminence  wherein  the  society  reporters 
sought  her  favour  for  news.  She  was  no  longer 
compelled  to  go  after  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  Marsh's  fourth  year  in  the 
Senate  he  was  worth  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  No  suspicion  had  attached  to  his  name. 
He  was  hailed  throughout  the  country  as  a  sturdy 
party  man  of  extraordinary  ability  as  a  speaker, 
and  he  was  in  demand  in  political  campaigns  and 
at  big  dinners  in  New  York  and  elsewhere.  At 
the  same  time  there  had  spread  throughout  the 


342  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

country  a  feeling  of  discontent,  expertly  fostered 
by  men  in  Washington  who  knew  the  real  condi 
tions.  The  men  in  control  of  the  Republican 
party  had  used  that  party  so  long  to  their  own 
selfish  ends  they  had  become  arrogant  and  flown 
with  power.  They  refused  to  listen  to  the 
protest  of  the  people.  A  revolt  that  threatened 
to  become  a  revolution  was  in  progress,  but  they 
would  have  none  of  the  news  of  it,  so  secure  did 
they  feel  in  their  position  entrenched  behind  the 
interests  they  represented.  They  thought  money 
would  be  all  potent,  as  it  always  had  been,  in  main 
taining  their  supremacy  in  the  elections,  and  their 
arrogance  led  them  to  newer  and  greater  abuses 
of  their  power  and  their  disregard  of  the  people. 

One  night  early  in  April  Marsh  went  out  for  a 
walk.  He  passed  by  the  White  House  and 
stopped  to  look  at  the  south  portico  of  that  beauti 
ful  building.  There  was  a  full  moon.  The  mag 
nolias  and  the  other  flowering  trees  shimmered  in 
its  light.  The  big  fountain  sent  up  spurts  of 
gleaming  water  that  fell  back  in  glittering  spray. 
The  grass  was  green  and  fresh  and  velvety,  and 
through  this  perspective  he  saw  the  great  portico, 
with  its  gleaming  pillars,  and  the  lanterns  on 
either  side.  Back  of  him  the  monument  towered 
into  the  soft  air,  its  grey  sides  softly  reflecting 
subdued  tints,  and  far  behind  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol  swam  indistinct  in  the  silver  haze. 

Marsh  gazed  at  this  wonderful  picture  —  there 
is  not  another  in  the  world  like  it  —  and  his 
thoughts  ran  back  to  the  night  when  he  first  stood 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  343 

there  and  wondered  if  he  might  not  one  day  live 
in  that  house  and  direct  affairs  of  the  people  of 
his  country.  Why  not?  He  was  gaming  fame. 
He  was  getting  to  be  a  party  leader.  He  had 
every  qualification  and  especially  every  political 
qualification.  He  was  entranced  by  the  glory  of 
the  scene,  and  again  he  seemed  to  hear  the  bands 
playing  Hail  to  the  Chief  as  they  passed  him  on 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  on  the  fourth  of  March, 
while  he  bowed  his  acknowledgments  as  the  newly- 
elected  president,  Mrs.  Marsh  beside  him  radiant 
with  happiness. 

A  man  touched  him  on  the  shoulder.  Marsh 
started  and  turned  around. 

"  Hello,  senator." 

"  Why,  how  do  you  do,  Byron.  I  haven't 
seen  you  in  a  long  time. 

"  No,"  Byron  replied,  "  we  are  not  travelling 
the  same  roads  just  now.  Isn't  it  a  wonderful 
picture?  " 

'Wonderful!" 

"  But  think  of  the  troubles  of  the  poor  chap 
who  lives  there,  the  rock  —  if  he  is  a  rock  — 
against  which  every  selfish  ambition,  every  polit 
ical  intrigue,  every  job  is  hurled,  and  against 
whose  peace  of  mind  and  future  every  political 
jobster  is  plotting.  Or  if  he  isn't  a  rock,  the  poor, 
helpless,  hopeless  man,  snared  by  the  system  and 
the  creature  of  those  who  surround  him  and  who 
snared  him.  It  is  a  tremendous  responsibility,  and 
how  few  of  them  measure  up  to  it." 

"  Byron,"  said  Marsh,  "  what  did  you  mean  just 


344  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

now  when  you  said  you  and  I  are  not  travelling 
the  same  roads.  Of  course  I  am  in  the  Senate 
and  you  are  still  in  the  House,  but  that  doesn't 
explain  it.  What  did  you  mean?  " 

Byron  laughed.  "  You  know  what  I  mean, 
senator,  as  well  as  I  do,  but  I'll  tell  you  if  you 
want  to  know." 

"  I  do  want  to  know." 

'Well,  I  mean  just  this:  You  and  I  be 
gan  in  Congress  in  the  same  term.  You  have 
gone  ahead  of  me  of  course,  and  that  is  right 
enough,  for  you  are  a  man  of  greater  ability  than 
I,  but,  believe  me,  Marsh,  my  time  is  coming. 
You  have  seen  fit  to  ally  yourself  with  the  interest- 
controlled  organisation  and  to  disregard,  except 
for  purposes  of  deceiving  them,  the  people  to 
whom  you  are  responsible.  We  are  playing  dif 
ferent  games,  Marsh.  You  have  taken  one  end 
and  I  have  taken  the  other.  You  have  chosen 
to  be  with  the  classes,  as  represented  by  their  tools 
in  this  Congress,  and  I  have  chosen  to  be  with 
the  people.  Your  apparent  advantage  is  great, 
but  the  time  isn't  far  away  when  the  people  you 
have  left  will  rise  and  throw  you  all  out  of  power." 

"  Pshaw,  Byron,"  interrupted  Marsh,  "  that 
sounds  like  one  of  your  speeches  in  the  House." 

"  It  is  one  of  my  speeches  in  the  House," 
answered  Byron,  "  and  it  is  one  of  my  speeches 
to  the  people.  As  surely  as  there  is  a  God  in 
Heaven,  Marsh,  this  revolt,  this  demand  for  re 
adjustment,  will  bring  you  all  to  your  knees. 
You  can't  escape  it.  It  is  bound  to  come.  You 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  345 

Have  grown  arrogant,  despotic,  un-American  even 
in  your  studied  and  selfish  crusade  for  power  and 
for  money.  I  mean  all  of  you,  not  you  alone. 
You  have  sought  to  make  our  party  a  party  o£ 
individuals  instead  of  a  party  of  the  people.  You 
have  delivered  us  over  into  the  hands  of  the 
trusts,  the  monopolies,  the  combinations  that  are 
destroying  or  have  destroyed  competition  and  are 
making  the  burdens  of  life  unbearable.  You  have 
refused  to  hear  the  warnings.  You  are  deaf  to 
the  entreaties  of  the  people.  You  laugh  at  the 
protests  of  men  like  myself,  scoff  at  us,  call  us 
socialists  and  anarchists  and  enemies  of  the  ex 
isting  order. 

"  Great  Heavens,  man,  why  shouldn't  we  be 
enemies  of  the  existing  order?  What  is  the  ex 
isting  order  but  the  absolute  control  of  this  Gov 
ernment  by  a  few  financial  pirates  who  have  used 
you  for  their  own  ends;  and  have  throttled  the 
people  of  this  country  with  trusts,  combinations 
and  with  other  financial  and  business  iniquities? 
What  is  it  if  it  isn't  that?  Of  course  we  are 
enemies  of  the  existing  order,  and  mark  me,  sen 
ator,  the  existing  order  will  be  toppled  over  one 
of  these  days,  your  party  will  be  wrecked  and 
ruined,  and  you  will  have  nothing  to  mark  your 
past  by  but  your  money,  and  that  will  not  be  a 
subject  of  grateful  remembrance,  if  I  am  any 
judge." 

Marsh  listened  impatiently.  "  I  'don't  want  to 
be  rude,  Byron,"  he  said,  "  but  it  seems  to  me  you 
are  going  a  bit  beyond  the  limit  in  your  tirade." 


346          THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Nor  do  I  want  to  be  rude,"  continued  Byron, 
"  but  facts  are  always  rude.  I  am  speaking  to 
you  now  because  I  still  have  faith  in  you,  because 
I  know  what  you  were  thinking  when  I  came  along 
here.  I  know  you  were  gazing  at  the  White 
House,  and  fancying  yourself  the  president  chosen 
by  the  people  to  live  within  its  walls.  I  know 
what  your  dreams  are,  but  I'll  tell  you,  Marsh, 
those  dreams  will  never  come  true.  You  will 
never  get  to  the  White  House  unless  you  cut 
loose  from  these  wolves  who  are  using  you  and 
your  fine  ability  for  their  own  purposes.  You'll 
go  down  with  the  rest.  Why  not  be  a  man  in 
stead  of  a  tool?  Why  not  be  one  of  the  people 
and  for  the  people,  instead  of  flouting  the  people 
and  using  them  for  your  own  selfish  ends? 
[There's  a  day  of  reckoning  coming,  Marsh.  It 
may  not  be  this  year  or  next  year,  but  it  is  com 
ing.  And  you  will  all  go  down.  It  isn't  too 
late  for  you,  Marsh.  You  have  power.  The 
people  still  believe  in  you.  They  do  not  know 
your  connections  as  we  know  them  here.  They 
think  you  are  a  great  man,  partisan,  perhaps,  but 
intrinsically  honest,  and  you  can  still  cut  loose 
and  go  out  and  make  a  fight  for  popular  govern 
ment,  for  the  rule  of  the  people  instead  of  the 
rule  of  the  system.  You  can  do  it  if  you  wish, 
Marsh.  It  is  up  to  you." 

"  Good-night,"  said  Marsh  abruptly,  and 
Iwalked  away. 

He  did  not  go  to  bed  until  four  o'clock  next 
jnorning.  He  sat  in  his  library  and  thought  of 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  347 

what  Byron  had  said.  He  considered  Byron  a 
fanatic,  a  crusader  who  saw  visions  and  dreamed 
dreams,  but  in  his  heart  he  knew  Byron  was  right. 
He  had  felt  many  time  the  humiliation  of  his 
position.  He  had  taken  orders  like  the  veriest 
attendant,  orders  to  do  thus  and  so  issued  arro 
gantly  by  the  Senate  leaders.  To  be  sure  he  had 
profited  by  these  orders,  but  that  added  to  the 
humiliation,  for  even  his  motives  were  dishonest. 
Before  morning  he  had  resolved  to  cut  loose. 
He  had  planned  his  campaign.  He  had  decided 
to  be  a  man,  no  matter  what  the  consequences 
might  be;  but  as  he  reviewed  his  career  and  his 
connections  he  was  uneasy.  Perhaps  he  could 
not.  That  thought  constantly  obtruded.  He 
swept  it  away  with  a  fine  determination  to  cut  loose 
no  matter  what  the  cost  to  himself.  He  knew 
his  own  ability.  He  saw  himself  in  the  Senate 
making  his  declaration  of  emancipation,  espousing 
the  cause  of  the  people.  He  felt  instinctively 
there  would  be  a  wide  popular  acclaim,  and  the 
vision  of  the  bands  playing  Hail  to  the  Chief 
on  Pennsylvania  Avenue  on  March  fourth,  while 
he  bowed  his  acknowledgments  from  the  review 
ing  stand  in  front  of  the  White  House,  came  back 
to  him. 

He  stayed  at  home  that  morning  and  planned 
his  campaign.  The  House  had  passed  a  corpo 
ration-tax  bill,  taxing  corporations  on  their  gross 
revenues,  that  had  been  fought  bitterly  in  secret 
by  the  organisation  and  the  interests,  but  which 
they  had  been  obliged  to  send  to  a  vote  and  obliged 


to  vote  for  because  of  the  popular  demand  they 
could  not  resist.  The  interests  were  outraged  by 
the  bill.  They  protested  it  was  confiscatory,  un 
constitutional,  un-American,  and  they  rallied  every 
friend  they  had  against  it,  but  to  no  avail.  The 
people  demanded  it.  The  people  were  beginning 
to  have  an  inkling  of  what  had  happened  to  them 
in  years  gone  by. 

So  they  let  the  bill  go  through  the  House  and 
plotted  to  kill  it  or  emasculate  it  in  the  Senate. 
One  plan  was  to  increase  the  tax  in  the  Senate  to 
an  absurdly  high  figure  and  refuse  to  compromise 
in  conference  and  then  kill  the  bill;  and  the  other 
was  for  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Senate, 
when  it  received  the  bill  from  the  House,  to  strike 
out  all  but  the  enacting  clause,  substitute  an  en 
tirely  new  bill,  pass  that  bill,  and  send  the  two 
bills  to  conference,  where  the  conferees  would  be 
carefully  picked  men  and  where  they  could  cook 
up  a  new  bill  that  would  be  harmless,  while  ap 
pearing  to  carry  out  the  will  of  the  people.  This 
latter  plan  was  most  favoured,  because  the  mere 
change  of  the  rate  of  taxation  in  the  House  Bill 
by  the  Senate  meant,  under  the  laws  of  conference, 
that  the  conferees  could  confer  and  decide  only  on 
the  items  changed,  and  must  not  change  any  sec 
tions  that  had  passed  both  House  and  Senate  in 
exact  form.  That  is,  if  the  House  fixed  five  per 
cent,  and  the  Senate  amended  to  ten  per  cent,  as 
the  rate  of  the  tax,  the  conferees  could  deal  only 
with  the  rate  and  not  with  the  wording  of  the  bill, 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  349 

unless  that  had  been  changed  from  House  ver 
biage  by  Senate  amendment  also. 

The  decision  was  to  have  the  Senate  strike  out 
all  but  the  enacting  clause  in  the  House  bill,  sub 
stitute  its  own  bill,  and  thresh  it  out  in  conference, 
where  the  organisation  would  see  to  it  that  com 
petent  threshers  were  on  guard.  Elzey  told 
Marsh,  and  so  did  Paxton,  that  Marsh  must  lead 
the  fight  for  this  procedure.  The  organisation 
had  picked  trusty  men  for  conferees  and  the  pre 
siding  officers  had  their  instructions  to  name  these 
men.  The  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee 
was  an  adroit  floor  leader,  but  the  public  feeling 
was  so  intense  that  a  great  speech  was  needed  and 
Marsh  was  told  off  to  make  this  speech. 

Marsh  knew  the  House  bill  was  equitable.  His 
plan  was  to  make  his  great  speech,  but  not  in 
defence  of  the  Senate  procedure,  and  the  conse 
quent  emasculation  in  conference  he  knew  would 
ensue.  He  had  been  party  to  conferences  before. 
He  knew  how  adroitly  new  law  was  made  by  con 
ferees,  how  provisions  were  changed  and  bills  de 
natured  by  these  skilful  legislators,  and  his  idea, 
which  was  firmly  fixed  in  his  mind,  was  to  advo 
cate  the  passage  by  the  Senate  of  the  House  bill 
instead  of  the  substitution  of  the  Senate  bill.  He 
planned  to  offer  the  House  bill  as  a  substitute  for 
the  Senate  bill  and  make  his  fight  on  that.  He 
knew  he  would  have  some  Senate  support  and  wide 
popular  acclaim,  for  he  intended  to  expose  the 
Senate  scheme  and  to  demand  the  House  bill  as 


350  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

a  fair  and  righteous  measure,  giving  the  people 
a  tithe  of  their  dues  and  mulcting  the  interests 
and  the  system. 

"  Jim,"  said  Paxton  to  him  a  few  days  before 
the  matter  came  up,  "  are  you  getting  ready  for 
that  corporation-tax  speech?" 

"  Yes,"  Marsh  replied. 

"  Going  to  be  a  hummer,  I  hope.  It's  a  great 
chance  for  you.  We've  got  it  all  fixed  to  submit 
our  own  bill  in  place  of  the  House  bill,  and  throw 
it  into  conference,  and  what  those  able  seamen 
who  will  be  on  that  conference  committee  will 
do  to  that  corporation-tax  business  will  be  a  plenty. 
They'll  mess  it  up  so  the  Supreme  Court  won't  get 
it  untangled  in  a  dozen  years." 

"  Will  the  people  stand  for  it?  "  asked  Marsh. 

"  They've  got  to  stand  for  it.  We've  got  the 
votes  roped  and  tied  in  the  Senate  to  pass  it,  and 
the  conferees  will  hold  out  and  make  a  false  fight 
until  within  a  few  hours  of  adjournment.  Then 
we'll  report  an  agreement,  and  shove  it  gracefully 
through  in  the  crowded  last  moments  before  any 
body  knows  what  is  in  it.  After  that  the  people 
can  gnaw  on  it  as  long  as  they  like.  Of  course  as 
soon  as  an  attempt  is  made  to  collect  a  tax  under 
it  a  test  case  will  be  brought  by  some  of  our 
friends,  and  by  the  time  the  Supreme  Court  passes 
on  it  we  can  have  some  other  scheme  fixed  up. 
The  people  ?  Say,  Jim,  you  don't  think  the  people 
have  a  look  in  on  this  game,  do  you?  " 

"  I  suppose  not,"  said  Marsh  gravely,  "  but  I 
think  I  shall  try  to  enlighten  them." 


A  VISION  OF  POWER  351 

"  You'll  do  what?  "  shouted  Paxton. 

"  I  shall  support  the  House  bill." 

Paxton  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

"  That's  what  I  shall  do,"  repeated  Marsh. 

"  Yes  you  will,"  said  Paxton.  "  Oh,  yes,  I 
can  see  you  doing  it!  Quit  your  joking  now  and 
go  and  get  ready  for  your  speech." 

"  I  am  not  joking.  I  intend  to  advocate  the 
House  rate  and  the  House  bill." 

Paxton  smiled  incredulously.  "  Say,  Jim,"  he 
said,  "you  haven't  been  drinking,  have  you?" 

"  No." 

"  Then  you  must  be  crazy." 

"  I'm  neither  crazy  nor  drunk.  I  tell  you  I 
am  convinced  my  duty  is  to  prevent  this  juggling 
with  the  rights  of  the  people.  It  has  got  to  stop. 
Hereafter  I  am  going  to  fight  for  the  men  who 
send  me  here,  not  for  the  men  I  met  after  I  got 
here.  It's  all  settled.  I  am  against  you  and 
your  gang  from  this  time  out.  I  have  declared 
my  independence.  I  am  a  free  man,  and  I'll  fight 
you  to  the  finish,  in  this  and  in  every  other  rotten 
scheme  you  try  to  sneak  through." 

"Do  you  mean  it?"  asked  Paxton,  still  in 
credulous. 

"  I  mean  it     More  than  that,  I  swear  it." 

Paxton  whistled,  walked  round  the  room, 
lighted  a  cigar  with  elaborate  care.  "  The 
trouble  with  you  is  that  you've  lost  your  sense  of 
perspective,"  he  remarked. 

"  On  the  contrary,"  asserted  Marsh,  "  I've 
just  found  it." 


352  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  Oh,  hell,"  exclaimed  Paxton,  "  there's  no  use 
arguing  with  a  crazy  man!  I'll  attend  to  you  in 
a  day  or  so  if  you  don't  get  back  to  normal. 
Good-morning." 


SHACKLED  OR  THE  END  OF  THE  DREAM 

PAXTON  went  up  to  Marsh's  house  that 
night  and  came  away  convinced  Marsh 
was  in  earnest.  He  found  it  useless  to 
talk  to  Marsh,  that  he  obstinately  refused 
to  listen  to  reason,  nor  would  he  heed  threats.  He 
said  he  had  decided  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  people 
and  he  had  faith  the  people  would  welcome  him. 
He  would  expose  the  whole  scheme  in  the  Senate 
and  he  knew  he  could  arouse  the  country.  So  did 
Paxton  know,  he  could  arouse  the  country.  Pax- 
ton  had  an  acute  realisation  of  that  fact,  and  he 
had  an  inkling  of  the  temper  of  the  people,  for 
he  was  an  able  politician  and  kept  somewhat  in 
touch  with  the  West  and  the  Middle-West,  where 
the  revolt  was  assuming  proportions.  He  con 
sulted  with  the  other  Senate  leaders.  They  can 
vassed  the  situation  carefully. 

"  Paxton,"  said  the  real  leader;  u  we  can't  af 
ford  to  have  this  happen.  (Put  the  screws  on 
him." 

Two  days  later,  while  Marsh  sat  at  work  on  his 
speech  in  his  committee  room,  the  card  of  William 
R.  Elzey  was  brought  in  by  his  messenger. 
"  Ask  him  to  come  in,"  Marsh  directed, 

353. 


354          THE  PRICE  OE  PLACE 

Elzey  appeared.  "  Ah,  good-morning,  sena 
tor,"  he  said.  "  I  am  delighted  to  see  you  again. 
Charming  weather,  isn't  it?  I  hope  you  are 
well  and  I  must  say  you  are  looking  very  fit." 

Marsh  smiled  a  little  at  this,  for  he  was  pale 
and  worn,  with  great  hollows  under  his  eyes. 
He  had  slept  little,  and  he  was  working  hard  on 
what  was  to  be  the  greatest  speech  of  his  life. 

"  Good-morning,  Mr.  Elzey.  Won't  you  sit 
down?" 

They  chatted  a  moment  on  inconsequential 
things.  Then  Elzey  cleared  his  throat  portent 
ously.  "  Senator,"  he  said,  "  what  is  this  amaz 
ing  thing  I  hear  about  you?  " 

"I  can't  imagine.     What  is  it?" 

"  Why  —  of  course  it  is  absurd  —  but  I  hear, 
from  what  is  usually  good  authority  —  although 
my  informants  must  be  mistaken,  as  I  told 
them  —  I  hear  you  intend  to  oppose  the  Senate 
plan  as  regards  the  iniquitous  corporation  tax  and 
support  the  criminally  oppressive  House  measure." 

"  That  is  correct." 

"  But,  senator,  you  cannot  be  serious.  All  of 
your  friends  and  associates  in  New  York  — s  and 
I  think  you  will  admit  we  are  entitled,  for  sub 
stantial  reasons,  to  claim  friendship  —  are  op 
posed  to  this  measure  as  it  stands.  All  of  your 
associates  in  the  Senate  are  opposed  to  it.  It  is 
a  mere  anarchistic  vagary  of  the  uninformed 
people.  It  is  confiscatory.  It  deprives  the  men 
who  have  built  up  this  country  of  the  fruits  of 
their  honest  endeavour,  of  their  knowledge,  their 


SHACKLED  355 

capital,  their  enterprise.  I  can  show  you,  if  you 
will  allow  me,  the  dozen  iniquities  that  exist  in 
it." 

*  That  would  be  useless,"  said  Marsh  firmly. 

"  Useless?     Surely  you  will  listen  to  reason?  " 

"  I  have  determined  on  my  course." 

"  But  my  dear  senator,  you  cannot  do  this  thing. 
It  is  impossible  and  preposterous." 

"  I  fail  to  see  why  it  is  impossible.  I  have 
the  right  of  speech  in  the  Senate.  I  am  a  free 
man.  I  can  say  what  I  choose  and  I  have  my  con 
victions  in  the  matter.  Why  is  it  impossible?" 

"  Because  — "  Elzey  dropped  his  affability 
and  became  imperative,  his  eyes,  grey  and  hard, 
drilled  into  Marsh,  his  voice  was  harsh  and  com 
manding.  "  Because  I  forbid  it." 

"  You  forbid  it!  "  shouted  Marsh.  "  You  — 
forbid  —  it !  Get  out  of  this  office  before  I 
throw  you  out!  You  —  forbid  —  it!  And  who 
are  you  —  who  are  you  to  forbid  my  doing  my 
duty?" 

"  You  know  who  I  am.  If  you  do  not  I  shall 
be  at  pains  to  refresh  your  memory.  I  forbid  it, 
I  say,  and  I  have  the  power  to  do  so." 

Marsh  dropped  back  in  his  chair.  "  I  don't 
understand,"  he  said  weakly. 

"  You  will  in  a  minute.  Do  you  suppose  I  — 
we  —  my  associates  and  myself  —  intend  to  allow 
you  to  cut  our  throats  in  this  manner?  " 

"  You  — " 

Marsh  paused.  His  mind  flashed  back  over  all 
his  congressional  career.  He  saw  it  all.  These 


356  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

men  intended  to  coerce  him  because  he  had  taken 
money  from  them.  Hot  blood  rushed  to  his 
face.  His  heart  thumped.  He  saw  dimly.  The 
big,  impressive  figure  of  Elzey  swayed  in  a 
mist  before  him.  His  temples  throbbed.  His 
hands  clasped  and  unclasped.  He  started  for 
ward  as  if  to  strike  Elzey,  who  sat  watching  him 
with  a  cruel  smile  on  his  lips. 

"  I  defy  you !  "  shouted  Marsh.  "  I  defy  you! 
You  can  prove  nothing.  I  have  given  services  for 
all  the  money  you  have  paid  me,  you  or  any 
other  person.  I  defy  you !  I  shall  oppose  the 
bill,  and  I'll  beat  it,  too,  and  show  up  your  sneak 
ing,  scheming  pirates  to  the  whole  world !  " 

"  You  will  do  no  such  thing,"  said  Elzey  quietly. 

"  Why  won't  I,  damn  you  ?  Why  won't  I  ? 
You  can't  stop  me  with  any  of  your  cheap,  black 
mailing  threats.  I  defy  you!" 

"  You'd  best  be  calm,  Marsh.  You  cannot 
frighten  me.  Don't  call  me  a  blackmailer  and  a 
thief.  Think  about  yourself.  Keep  your  ep 
ithets  for  yourself.  What  you  say  about  me  con 
cerns  me  little.  I  am  used  to  dealing  with  men  of 
your  class." 

"  Of  my  class?  "  gasped  Marsh. 

"  Exactly.  I  have  been  buying  such  men  as 
you  for  many  years.  I  bought  you,  Marsh,  and 
you  will  not  oppose  that  bill." 

"  By  God  I  will !  "  shouted  Marsh.  "  I'll  beat 
it  if  I  go  to  hell  for  it." 

"  No,"  replied  Elzey,  still  calm,  "  you  will  not 
beat  it.  You  will  continue  in  the  Senate,  do  as  I 


SHACKLED  357 

wish,  an'd  be  a  respectable  and  respected  member 
of  that  great  body." 

Marsh  was  trembling.  His  nerves,  already 
wrought  to  high  tension,  were  breaking  a  little. 
"How  can  you  stop  me?"  he  asked.  "I  tell 
you  I  have  made  up  my  mind." 

Elzey  took  a  bundle  of  papers  from  his  pocket. 
They  were  canceled  bank  cheques. 

"  Marsh,"  he  said,  "  here  is  every  cheque  you 
have  received  from  us  —  from  me  and  my  asso 
ciates.  Cheques  with  your  indorsement  on  them, 
cheques  issued  by  various  firms  and  corporations  in 
New  York.  I  have  them  all.  You  are  more  of 
a  simpleton  than  most  men  of  your  class,  Marsh. 
You  don't  even  know,  enough  to  demand  currency. 
You  took  cheques.  And  here  they  are,  the  proof 
of  all  your  crookedness." 

Marsh's  face  was  ghastly  as  Elzey  spread  the 
cheques  out  before  him.  They  were  all  there  in 
cluding  the  first  ones  from  Stunz  &  Sturgess,  and 
the  cheque  for  $25,000  used  in  beating  him  for 
election  as  senator.  Marsh  put  a  shaking  finger 
on  the  first  cheque  he  had  received. 

"  Where  did  you  get  that?  "  he  asked  hoarsely. 

"  Why,  Quicksall  gave  it  to  me.  We  all 
operate  together  in  cases  of  this  kind,  my  dear 
senator.  Are  you  not  aware  of  that?  " 

Elzey  spread  the  cheques  out  again.  "  Look 
them  over,"  he  said.  "  You  admit  your  sig 
natures?  " 

'  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  them?  " 

"Nothing,"   said  Elzey,   gathering   them   up; 


358  THE  PRICE  OF  PLACE 

"  nothing  if  you  recant  on  this  foolish  and  inex 
pedient  idea  of  yours  and  fall  in  line  for  our  plan 
as  to  this  tax*  If  you  persist  in  your  foolishness 
I  shall  arrange  to  have  these  cheques  placed  in 
the  hands  of  various  New  York  newspapers.  The 
exposure  won't  hurt  us,  Marsh,  for  the  people 
could  not  hate  us  any  more  than  they  do,  but  it 
will  ruin  you,  Marsh,  and  it  will  ruin  your  wife 
and  your  daughter." 

"  Is  it  possible,"  Marsh  cried,  "  that  you  would 
do  that?" 

Elzey  smiled.  "  My  dear  senator,"  he  said, 
"  stop  and  consider  what  you  are  preparing 
to  do  to  us.  We  must  fight  fire  with  fire." 

Marsh  paced  back  and  forth  across  the  room. 
"  It  is  quite  true,"  he  cried.  "  I  am  not  a  free 
man,  not  a  real  man.  I  am  merely  the  tool  of 
you  and  your  associates,  a  violator  of  my  oath 
of  office,  an  ingrate  to  the  people  who  have 
honoured  me." 

"  Oh,  senator,"  protested  Elzey,  "  I  think  you 
are  a  little  too  hard  on  yourself." 

Marsh  did  not  appear  to  hear  what  the  other 
man  was  saying:  "  I  am  bound,"  he  repeated  as 
though  speaking  to  himself,  "  shackled,  fettered, 
and  all  for  what?  For  petty  place,  for  fleeting 
fame,  for  gratification  of  my  vanity,  for  cursed, 
rotten  money.  Oh,  my  God !  my  God  I  "  He 
threw  himself  forward  on  his  desk,  his  head  buried 
in  his  arms,  his  body  shaken  with  great  sobs. 

Elzey  sat  watching  him.  After  some  moments 
Marsh  looked  up. 


SHACKLED  359. 

"  Of  course,  senator,"  said  Elzey,  "  the  Incident 
is  closed,  I  take  it,  and  you  are  with  us." 

Marsh  looked  vacantly  at  him. 

"  I  am  to  understand  then,"  repeated  Elzey, 
"  that  you  will  consider  the  incident  closed  and 
that  you  will  support  our  contention.  Am  I 
correct?  " 

Marsh  slowly  nodded  his  head.  "  Yes,"  he 
whispered,  "  you  are  entirely  correct." 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Elzey.  "  I  shall  have 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  again  soon,  I  trust. 
Good-morning." 

Long  after  his  visitor  had  left  him,  Marsh  sat 
there,  staring  at  the  wall.  Again  he  had  a  vision 
of  the  bands  playing  Hail  to  the  Chief  on  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue,  and  the  crowds  cheering  the  man 
who  stood  in  the  reviewing  stand  on  the  fourth  of 
March  and  bowed  his  happy  acknowledgments. 
But  this  time  the  man  in  the  reviewing  stand  was 
not  James  Marsh, 


THE   END 


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